"Kate Elliott - Jaran 4 - The Law of Becoming" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

But the princess, when she spoke, merely sounded puzzled. "Surely this was inevitable?" she asked
the others. Her hand traced a path down Vasha's neck and came to rest on his shoulder. He melted
against her, seeking shelter, and she gave it to him, tightening her arm around him.

Bakhtiian just stared. "Gods, I didn't think she meant it when she told me she was pregnant."

"Is it just a coincidence that he's named Vassily?" asked the princess calmly.

In reply, the other man came to life, the fair one who stood over to one side of the princess, saying
nothing, only watching. Given an instant's choice between them, Vasha would have guessed that the
fair man—on beauty alone— must be Bakhtiian, but he was someone else and thus did not count.
Until now. "Do you mean to say," he asked hoarsely, "that you told her to name the child after me?"

Frightened by this outburst, Vasha huddled closer in against the princess. As if in answer, she
looked down at him. "Vasha. Is that what you wish? To be our son?"

The ground dropped out from under his feet. He could not speak, not even to beg for what he
wanted more than anything in the world.

Like a slap, bringing him back to earth, Bakhtiian snapped at his wife. "Tess! We can't take him in.
That's absurd. I'll raise no objection if Nadine wishes to foster him, but—"

"You already made the choice, Ilya. You lay with her. She bore a child."

"But, Tess—"

"Gods, Ilya, just look at him. By the laws of Jeds, this boy would be recognized as your son."

Bakhtiian stiffened, and Vasha recognized, even through his stupor and the pain of his hope, the
bearing of the general who had united the jaran tribes. "This isn't Jeds," he said in a taut, threatening
voice, "and neither are the laws of Jeds my laws."

Gulping in air, Vasha recovered himself. That was that, of course. As he had known it must be. But
still....

"That may be," said the princess with terrible gravity, "but by the laws of Jeds, and by the laws of
Erthe, I acknowledge him as your son, and by that connection, as my son as well." Her hand tightened
on his shoulder, claiming him, and the world seemed to go white in deference to the fierce passion of
her words, each one a force in and of itself. "And by the law of the jaran, by my stating it in front of
witnesses, it becomes true."

She had just claimed him as her son.

She had just claimed him as her son! Which made him, by the laws of the jaran, Bakhtiian's son as
well.
 He burst into racking sobs and collapsed to his knees in front of her.

A little while later, she knelt down beside him, stroking his hair, murmuring soothing words.
"Vasha. Shhh. Don't cry. Come now, stand up. Here's something to drink."