Pokrewne

Start
Carolyn Haines [Sarah Booth D Bones of a Feather (epub)
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Gl Sarah J. Maas
Caleb (The Shadow Wranglers) Sarah McCarty
Brennan, Sarah Rees Obsidian Der Pakt
Audrey's Door Sarah Langan
Dessen Sarah Dreamland
Dessen Sarah The Moon and More
Bernier, Nichole Wolkentaenzerin
Brenda L Harper [Angels and G Found (epub)
Dziedziczka Jude Deveraux

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.But was nothing and nothing, although the noises got louder, and I remembered the way the light had swelled and flowered with the approach of each of my friends.And then in the darkness, were voices— clear and plain and Corambin.“Strewth, the smell!”“What did they do, butcher an entire flock?”“Oh.” “Oh blessed Lady.” Someone was vomiting.And still was no light.I got to my feet, desperately, madly hoping for some change, some lessening of the blackness, some glimmer of light, a flash, a crack.Nothing.Was nothing.“Holy fuck! Someone’s alive in there!”Soldiers.Common Corambin soldiers.And I was blind.I remembered the searing light from the heart of the engine.Maybe was but temporary then, a light- dazzlement such as men suffered in a snowfield on bright days.Even as I tried to comfort myself, I knew I lied.“You! Who are you?” A commander’s voice, high- pitched, a little nasal, but unmistakably upper class.I could not tell where he stood; the echoes of the engine’s chamber bewildered me.“Do not draw your sword! Tell me who you are and what in the Lady’s blessed name has happened here!”An I drew my sword, would but be to fall on it.“I am the Margrave of Rothmarlin,” said I, my voice harsh, grating almost to nothing on the last word.“And what has happened here is a catastrophe.”“Rothmarlin.” Was a muttering among the soldiers that I could not hear clearly and did not try to.“Where is the Recusant?”“Prince Gerrard is here.He is dead.” Appalled, I heard myself continue: “They are all dead.”“All?”“All save me.”“And how did you survive?” He sounded suspicious, and I could not blame him.“Ill fortune.”More muttering.Would they kill me now, cut me down where I stood? Certainly was what I deserved.The commander said, “My lord of Rothmarlin, I must ask you to surrender.”“You think you cannot defeat me?” Perhaps he had not yet realized that I was blind, but was only one exit from this room, and he had at least six men with him.The stories told about me were varied and wild— Gerrard had delighted in them— but not even the most gullible Corambin could possibly believe I was capable of fighting my way out of this killing pen.“To end the Insurgence,” said the commander.“If the Recusant is dead, and you alone of his commanders remain alive, then you must surrender your army.”Lady, blessed Lady, do you see me still? “They must be granted amnesty,” I said.“Amnesty for traitors?”“They did but follow their margraves.We may be traitors to your Convocation, but they are not.Grant them amnesty and let them go.They will not rise again.I swear it.”“You will surrender your person,” the commander said flatly.I clenched my hands until my nails bit into my palms.“You will grant the pardon?”“The margraves must present themselves for judgment.”Exculpating the common soldiers indicted the margraves.But we at least deserved it.We had chosen rebellion and commanded our liegemen to serve us.They had been caught between betrayal and betrayal and had chosen as best they could in their loyalty to their margraves and their love of Prince Gerrard.Who was dead.“Yes,” said I.“We must be judged.I grant this.But the common soldiers will be pardoned?”“Yes.”“Then I surrender my person to you— I regret I do not know who you are.”“No, since you will not face me.Are we northermen so far beneath your regard, my lord of Rothmarlin?”“I cry your mercy.I cannot.I do not.” I heard my own rasping inhale, as a breath wanting to be a scream.“I am blind.”The Corambins were perfectly silent for a moment; I tried not to imagine them staring at me.Then their commander said, “I am the Duke of Glimmering, and I accept your surrender.” Curtly, to his men, “Take him.”They came at me from just behind my right shoulder.I held still as best I could, but they were not satisfied until they had borne me to the cold stones of the floor and bound my hands behind me.My sword was wrenched from its scabbard, and hard fingers wrested my signet from my unresisting hand.I bit a cry back to a grunt as a hand fisted in my hair and dragged my head to the side.Heat near my face, too near, and I tried to pull back but could not.“He’s blind right enough, Your Grace.”“Good,” said the Duke of Glimmering.“Then bring him.We have a war to end.”FelixBefore we left the Mirador, I had asked to see Gideon’s body and been refused.I still wasn’t sure why, whether Stephen had decreed it part of my punishment or whether the body was truly so hideous that someone had wrongly considered it a kindness.My last memory of Gideon was of his cold anger, his voice saying flatly in my head, You have made your position perfectly clear, thank you.It was no comfort to know that he might have been willing to forgive me, that he had gone to his death because Isaac Garamond had sent him a message purporting to be from me.I had not killed him, but I could not begin to count the ways in which it was my fault he was dead.Strangled and dead and lost.I dreamed about his death, terrible dreams, true dreams.There was arguably no room in the Mirador I knew better than Malkar’s workroom, the stench of the Sim, the red mosaic pentagram— ruined now, and I was glad of it.In my dreams, the cracked glass of the pentagram was lit by Isaac Garamond’s cold, pale blue witchlights as he sat, smiling, in the middle of the room.Waiting.Gideon comes in, checks as he sees Isaac.He is no fool, and there is a moment when he might escape, when he could simply step back out into the corridor and leave.Every time I dream this—every time— I beg him to do it, beg him to change events that have already happened.And every time, just before he makes that choice, Isaac rises and says, I know I’m not who you were expecting to see.But I do have a message for you.Gideon is suspicious, but worse than that, he is jealous [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]