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A Stroke Of Midnight :: Гамильтон Лорел
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“My apologies, Aunt Andais, it wasnot on purpose.” My voice sounded almost normal as I said it. I tried not to look at the ruin of the man she held, but it was both hard not to look at him and impossible to look for long. I looked because still my eyes could not make the proud, tall, arrogant, handsome Gwennin, out of that raw, fleshless figure at her feet. Even knowing who it was did not help my mind see it. She had destroyed him.
Anyone, absolutely anyone, would have confessed to anything to stop such pain. I did not trust her “confession,” but I dared not say that out loud. She was entirely too pleased with herself. After a good, successful torture, she was as happy as I ever saw her. I guess everyone needed a hobby.
“There is now a spring where you had your little threesome,” she said.
I looked down and Rhys moved so I could see that, indeed, the ground was bubbling, and a small seeping spring had come to be. The water was spreading out, finding a channel for a small stream, or perhaps making a pool. It would take time for the water to find its way, and decide what shape it wished the earth to take. Whether it wished to be a deep, still pool, or a stream. Of course, some rocks for the water to dance over would make a happy sound.
I should have known better than to think it. My only excuse was that I was trying to find something else to look at, to think of, than that pitiable wretch that had once been a sidhe lord.
The earth shivered like the flesh of a horse when a fly lands upon it. Rocks began to rise up through the mud, pushing their way along the seeping course of the water.
“It seems the sithen is alive once more,” Andais said, but her voice wasn’t as happy as I thought it should have been. “I think a deep, reflecting pool to complement the pool we already have would be lovely, don’t you, Meredith?”
I didn’t know what to say because a yes would be a lie, and a no would be impolitic.
She gave me narrowed eyes, and said, “Do you disagree, niece?”
“I do not know what to say, Aunt Andais.”
“The truth would be nice,” she said in a voice that made it clear she didn’t really want the truth, she wanted agreement.
“Your words say one thing, but your tone another, which leaves me wondering whether to obey your words, or the anger in them.”
She laughed then, and it seemed a genuine sound. “Oh, Meredith, you have not just gained a few inches of hair, but a more diplomatic tongue.
“My apologies, Aunt Andais, it wasnot on purpose.” My voice sounded almost normal as I said it. I tried not to look at the ruin of the man she held, but it was both hard not to look at him and impossible to look for long. I looked because still my eyes could not make the proud, tall, arrogant, handsome Gwennin, out of that raw, fleshless figure at her feet. Even knowing who it was did not help my mind see it. She had destroyed him.
Anyone, absolutely anyone, would have confessed to anything to stop such pain. I did not trust her “confession,” but I dared not say that out loud. She was entirely too pleased with herself. After a good, successful torture, she was as happy as I ever saw her. I guess everyone needed a hobby.
“There is now a spring where you had your little threesome,” she said.
I looked down and Rhys moved so I could see that, indeed, the ground was bubbling, and a small seeping spring had come to be. The water was spreading out, finding a channel for a small stream, or perhaps making a pool. It would take time for the water to find its way, and decide what shape it wished the earth to take. Whether it wished to be a deep, still pool, or a stream. Of course, some rocks for the water to dance over would make a happy sound.
I should have known better than to think it. My only excuse was that I was trying to find something else to look at, to think of, than that pitiable wretch that had once been a sidhe lord.
The earth shivered like the flesh of a horse when a fly lands upon it. Rocks began to rise up through the mud, pushing their way along the seeping course of the water.
“It seems the sithen is alive once more,” Andais said, but her voice wasn’t as happy as I thought it should have been. “I think a deep, reflecting pool to complement the pool we already have would be lovely, don’t you, Meredith?”
I didn’t know what to say because a yes would be a lie, and a no would be impolitic.
She gave me narrowed eyes, and said, “Do you disagree, niece?”
“I do not know what to say, Aunt Andais.”
“The truth would be nice,” she said in a voice that made it clear she didn’t really want the truth, she wanted agreement.
“Your words say one thing, but your tone another, which leaves me wondering whether to obey your words, or the anger in them.”
She laughed then, and it seemed a genuine sound. “Oh, Meredith, you have not just gained a few inches of hair, but a more diplomatic tongue.