"Sara Douglass - Redemption 1 - Sinner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

likenesses only reminded him that his parents had spent some thirty years apart,
and Zared didn't want to think that he and Leagh might have to endure a similar
separation.
Damn Askam! If he hadn't got himself into such dire debt, if he hadn't
imposed such heavy taxes, then maybe the West would prosper as much as did
Zared's North. And maybe Askam would not feel so threatened by a marriage
between his sister and Zared.
Zared was not a proud man, but neither was he foolishly modest. He knew
that if he had been Prince of the West, he would not have made such risky
investments as had Askam, nor would he have made his subjects pay for his
mistakes. If he was Prince of the West as well as of North, then virtually the
entire human population of Tencendor would live lives of heady prosperity. If. If.
Damned ifs!
Now Zared stood in front of portraits of Rivkah's brother, Priam, and her
father, Karel. They had once ruled as kings of Achar, a vast realm that had
stretched between the Andeis and Widowmaker seas and from the Icescarp Alps
to the Sea of Tyrre.
But as Achar was no more, so too had the monarchy died. Acharite lands had
been split up between Avar, Icarü and human, its territory incorporated into the
larger Tencendor, its peoples divested of their king.
As he stared at the portraits of his uncle and grandfather, Zared remembered
how well both had reigned. True, they had supported the Brotherhood of the
Seneschal, an organisation that had brought only evil to all those who lived in
the land, but in their own way Priam and Karel had ruled well and wisely. The
monarchy had been brought into disrepute only when Zared's older half-brother,
Borneheld, had murdered Priam and taken the throne.
There was no portrait of Borneheld. Zared's mouth quirked. Borneheld was a
son and brother best forgotten.
He swallowed the last of his wine, still staring at the likenesses of Priam and
Karel. What would it be like to govern (Zared's mind shied away from the word
"reign") over such a large territory? What would he do with it? How would he
improve it? How might he best help the West recover from the debts Askam had
saddled it with?
Ah! These thoughts were treason!
Zared blinked, and started to turn away, but as he did so his eyes were
caught by the golden circlet on Priam's brow, and he stopped, his thoughtful
gaze lingering on the gleam of gold as the shadows of dusk gathered about him.




cur se the Corolean Emperor to all the fire pits of the AfterLife," Askam

seethed, and tore the parchment he held into tiny pieces. "Why does he hound
my life so?"
Askam's four advisers, two minor noblemen, the Master of the Guilds of
Carlon and the Chamberlain of Askam's household, stood diplomatically silent.
One million, three hundred and eighty-five thousand gold pieces was the reason
the Corolean Emperor so hounded Askam. To be precise, one million, three
hundred and eighty-five gold pieces that Askam owed the Emperor.