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

"Enough," she said in relief. "It is done. Enough."

Faraday tightened the girth on the donkey and checked the saddlebags and panniers. She did not
carry much with her: the bowl of enchanted wood that the silver pelt had given her so long ago; the green
gown that the Mother had presented to her; some extra blankets; a pair of sturdy boots should the
weather break; and a few spare clothes.

It was not -much for a widowed Queen, thought Faraday, fighting to keep her emotions under
control. Where the retainers? The gilded carriage and the caparisoned horses? The company of two
white donkeys was paltry considering what she had done for Axis and for Tencendor - and what she
would yet do.

Carriages and horses? What did she need with those? All she needed, all she wanted, was the love of
a man who did not love her.

She thought about Azhure and Caelum, envying the woman yet sharing her joy in her son. Well, she
thought, no matter. I am mother to forty-two thousand souls. Surely their birthing will give me pain and
joy enough.

The stables, as the rest of the palace of Carlon, were still and quiet. When she had left the Sentinels
earlier Faraday had heard that the princes and commanders closest to Axis and Azhure had been called
to the apartment where Faraday had left them.

"A wedding, I hope," Faraday murmured, and did not know whether to smile for Azhure's sake, or
cry for her own.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She had her own role to play in the Prophecy and it
would take her far from Carlon. Faraday could not wait to leave the palace and the city. There were no
happy memories here. Even the recent eight days and nights she had spent at Axis' side had turned out to
be nothing but a lie and a betrayal. It was their memory Faraday wanted to escape most of all.

Why had no-one told her about Azhure? Everyone close to Axis - indeed, many distant from him -
had known of his love for Azhure, yet none had thought to tell Faraday. Not even the Sentinels.

"You let me think that once Borneheld was dead Axis would be mine," she had cried to the Sentinels.
"All I had to comfort me during that frightful marriage was the thought that one day my efforts for the
Prophecy would be rewarded with Axis' love, and yet that comfort was a lie."

Ogden and Veremund hung their heads in shame, and when Yr stepped forward to comfort Faraday,
she jerked away.

"Didyou know?" Faraday shouted at Jack. "Didyou know from the very beginning that I would lose
Axis?"

"None of us know all of the twists and turns of the Prophecy, sweet girl," Jack replied, his face
unreadable.

Faraday had stared flatly at him, almost tasting the lie he'd mouthed.

She sighed. Her meeting with the Sentinels had not gone well. She now regretted the harsh words