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

"My mother. She's a Healer." Warmed by the memory that was now as
bittersweet as all of his memories of Reyna, Jared's voice swelled with
unmistakable pride. Brock nodded, silently respectful.
"My father's eyes glazed when the carriage reached the beginning of the main
street and he saw all of us spread out like that. But the Queen ordered the
carriage to stop and said she wanted to walk a bit. And walk she did. I was
the first one on that side of the street, and my father, may the Darkness
embrace him, never said a word. I don't know what the Queen was thinking,
but I saw her glance at the street and immediately offered to escort her
across so she wouldn't get run over by another carriage-not that there were
any carriages moving on the street. She accepted my hand, and I led her
across. Except then her official escort was on one side of the street and
she was on the other. Naturally, the nearest boy offered to escort her back
across.
"She never laughed at us, never gave us the slightest impression that there
was something odd about being shepherded back and forth as she slowly made
her way up the street. The last boy at the top of the street handed her back
to my father, who had been keeping pace, and he took her into the
coffeehouse.
"To this day, I have no idea where he was supposed to have taken her or if
she got any refreshment before he slipped her out the back door to avoid
more assistance." Jared smiled.
"Did he tell your mother?" Brock asked. The mud and the rain-what did they
matter compared to this?
"My mother and several other witches dined with the Queen that evening.
Since it was Ladies only, my father stayed home with my brothers and me. For
several days after that, every so often my mother would glance at him and
giggle while his face turned red."
They walked for a minute in companionable silence.
Then Brock said, "Corry and Cathryn are walking up ahead. Randolf s keeping
an eye on them, and keeping Eryk away from them." He paused. "They're
holding hands."
Jared and Brock grinned at each other.
"Go on," Brock said, hitching a thumb toward the wagon. "Go warm up for a
bit and make yourself useful. You might tell her that story. I think Thera
would like it, too."
More than willing to get out of the rain and give his legs a rest, Jared
waited until the wagon caught up to him. Then he let it pass. He stared at
the back of it, turning the thought over and over in his mind, testing it
against instincts sharpened by the cruelty he'd seen, and endured, over the
past nine years. Then he hurried to catch up, suddenly wanting the warmth,
wanting something to eat, wanting to see if he could read anything in those
hard gray eyes when he told her the story. He wasn't sure he trusted the
Gray Lady. Yet he felt certain that in some other village on some other
street, she, too, had allowed herself to be needlessly shepherded so that a
few young boys could proudly say they had served.

Chapter Eight

Krelis stared at the spelled brass button in his hand and then at the