"Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy 3 - StarMan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

Forgiveness is the thing assured

To save Tencendor's soul.




The Day of Power

It was a long day, the day Axis tried to kill Azhure, then married her. It was a day filled with power, and
thus power found it easy to wrap and manipulate lives. The power of the Enchantress - untested and, for
the moment, uncontrolled -had dominated the morning. Now, as the Enchantress smiled and kissed her
new husband, it lay quiescent, waiting.

But as the gate that had imprisoned Azhure's power and identity had shattered that day, so had other
gates shattered, and so other powers had moved - and not all of them welcomed by the Prophecy.

As the Enchantress leaned back from her husband, accepting the warmth and love of her friends and
family about her, so power walked the land of Tencendor. It would be a long day.

Axis pulled the Enchantress' ring from a small secret pocket in his breeches. He held it up so that all in
the room could see it, then he slid the ring onto the heart finger of Azhure's left hand. It fit perfectly, made
only for this woman, and for this finger.

"Welcome into the House of the Stars to stand by my side, Enchantress. May we walk together
forever."

"Forever?" the GateKeeper said. "You and the Enchantress? Forever? As you wish, StarMan, as
you wish."

She laughed, then, from one of the bowls on the table before her she lifted out two balls and studied
them.

"Foreve^" she muttered, and placed them with the group of seven sparkling balls at the front of her
table. The Greater. "Nine. Complete. The Circle iscomplete*. At last... at last!"

She fell silent, deep in thought. Her fingers trembled. Already he had one child, and more to follow.
And then...the other.

She held a hand over one of the bowls again, dipped it in sharply, and brought out four more balls.
She dropped them into the pile of softly glowing golden balls which represented those who did not have
to go through her Gate. The Lesser.

"Yet onemorel" A spasm of pain crossed her face. Her hand lifted slowly, shaking, then she snarled
and snatched a dull black ball from the pile of those who refused to go through her Gate.
 She hissed, for the GateKeeper loathed releasing a soul without exacting fair price. "Does that satisfy
your promise, WolfStar?Does it?"

She dropped it with the other four on the pile of the Lesser.