"Anne Bishop - Black Jewels 00 - The Invisible Ring" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bishop Anne)

young, here was this boy reassuring a grown man that he hadn't scarred when
his own small body looked like a battlefield. Tomas deserved better than to
be condemned to a life like this. Then again, they all deserved better.
Needing a distraction, Jared said, "Tell me about Thera and Blaed."
"Well, you see, none of the beds were made up, though there were clean
sheets and blankets folded up on the mattresses. Thera started right in
'cause Cathryn-"
"Cathryn? I thought the other one's name is Polli."
"The Lady bought three females," Tomas explained patiently. "Thera, Polli,
and Cathryn. Thera's a broken Black Widow. Breaking her might have taken her
Jewels, but it sure didn't dull her temper. Polli's a broken witch. I think
it made her soft-headed and skittish. Cathryn's just a Blood female, too
young for breeding yet."
Jared ground his teeth. Just the thought of a Blood female being used as an
aristo broodmare as soon as she became old enough to bear healthy offspring
made him sick. Oh, they weren't broken like more and more strong witches
were, but that was because they didn't have the inner power for more than
basic Craft to begin with, and only unbroken females could produce more than
one offspring. "How old is Cathryn?"
"She's little. Nine maybe. You want to hear about Blaed or not?"
His breath hissed between his teeth. "I want to hear."
"So Thera started making up beds. Polli was making up a bed, too, but she
was moving slow, like something was paining her. Then Blaed walked over to
Polli and said something to her, and the next thing you know, she had her
back to the wall and she was screaming that she didn't have to spread her
legs, it was her moontime, and she didn't have to spread her legs during her
moontime.
"Before Blaed could say anything, Thera grabbed an apple from the bowl the
servants had brought and threw it at him. Blaed's got good reflexes. He
couldn't dodge it, but he managed to take it on the hip instead of in the
balls.
"So there's Polli having hysterics, and Cathryn's crying 'cause she's
scared, and Thera's screaming at Blaed, and Blaed's rushing toward Thera
while she's reaching back for another apple, and Randolf and Brock are
trying to jump in before it gets really nasty. And then the outside door
burst open and the Gray Lady was standing there.
"The males all stopped cold, and I hushed Cathryn, but Polli was still
wailing about her moontime-Hell's fire, even I could tell that whatever was
paining her, it wasn't that- and Thera was still screaming about heartless
pricks who couldn't keep their pants buttoned and holding that apple so hard
she was squishing it to pulp."
Tomas jumped up. "You soap up your hair. I'll get a bucket of clean water to
rinse with."
Jared soaped his hair, muttering all the while about the dire things that
could happen to boys who got too bossy. The only response he got was a
bucket of water poured over his head before he was ready. Sputtering, he
climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel from Tomas. "If you don't finish
the story, I'll throttle you."
Now certain that he could ignore remarks like that, Tomas just grinned,
grabbed another towel, and gently patted Jared's back dry. "Turns out Blaed