Swallowing Darkness   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Страница: 224 из 242



"I think we won abattle, but not a war, by taking the goblins' magic."

Ash's hand spasmed against my shoulder.

"But was it right, the right thing to do?" the God asked.

I started to say yes, then said, "I don't know. I was told that our magic came from You. That would mean that we stole magic from the goblins that You had both given to them. Did you agree with what we did?"

"No one asked us," the Goddess said.

Ash startled beside me, and I just gaped at them. They had hooded themselves again, so my eyes and my mortal mind would be able to deal with them better. When had they hooded? Just now? Minutes ago? I couldn't remember.

"Taking the goblins' magic was the beginning of You turning from us," I said.

"What if you, daughter, could undo that injustice?" the God asked.

"You mean give magic back to the goblins," I said. It was always good to be clear.

"Yes," they said together.

"You mean give Holly and Ash hands of power," I said. Ash had actually dropped his hand, as if it were all too much.

"Yes," they answered again. Were they beginning to fade?

"They are sidhe as well as goblin," I said.

"Would you give them their sidhe-side powers, daughter?" Now I was answering voices.

If I said no, would the Goddess retreat from me, from all my people again? I looked at Ash, and he would not look at me. I glanced in front of us at Holly. He was glaring at me. His face showed plainly that he thought I would deny them. But it wasn't his anger that I saw, it was the reason behind the anger. Years of looking in the mirror, and seeing all that sidhe blood looking back at you, and knowing that you would forever be denied. It didn't matter how sidhe you looked. If you had no magic, then you weren't real to the sidhe. You were simply not one of them. I knew what that felt like, to be among them but not one of them. I looked less sidhe than the brothers did. At least they were tall, and until you saw their eyes they could have passed. I would never pass for pure-blooded sidhe, not with a thousand crowns on my head.

"Will you give them their birthright back?" the voices asked.

For politics, I should have said no. For the safety of my world, no. For the safety of everything we'd signed treaties for, no. But in the end, I gave the only answer that felt right. "I will."



Chapter Forty-Three

We were left alone in the circle of stones under the round, white glow of midsummer's moon.

|< Пред. 222 223 224 225 226 След. >|

Java книги

Контакты: [email protected]