"Jennifer Fallon - Second Sons 02 - Eye of the Labyrinth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fallon Jennifer)

“Kirsh it is, then.”

Kirsh smiled, thinking that when all was said and done, he had made a good start. He had survived
Dargin’s beating and made the first tentative steps toward friendship with Alexin.

How bad could it get? ...




Chapter 3




Very bad, Kirsh discovered over the next two years. The beating he had received that day was merely
the first of many. Every time he stepped into the training arena, somebody managed to get the better of
him. He was not badly trained, he knew that, but the men of the Queen’s Guard were superbly trained,
and none of them stood to lose his position if Kirsh broke a few bones. He realized now that training with
his father’s guard was a world away from training every day, all day, with a squad of men whose
dedication to their queen was inspired by true loyalty, rather than a fat purse at the end of the week. If he
had a friend at all in the Queen’s Guard, it was Alexin Seranov, the second son of the Duke of Grannon
Rock. The young man was as universally liked as Kirshov was universally despised. He seemed to hold
no prejudice, one way or another, about his Senetian comrade, and he was often the only one who
bothered to explain rules that the rest of the guard expected him to have been born knowing. Alexin had
bailed him out of trouble on more than one occasion, but Kirsh was never certain if it was because he
was a friend, or that Alexin was simply a political creature, who was hedging his bets against the future.
The wake-up trumpets had long since faded when his door flew open. He must have been lying
daydreaming for the better part of an hour. “Hey! Latanya! Wake-up was sounded ages ago! Get that
lazy arse of yours out of bed, or you’ll be mucking out the stables with your dinner plate for the next
week!”
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Kirsh groaned again and rolled out of bed. He opened his swollen eyes and glared balefully at the man
who had so rudely awakened him. “I heard the call, Tael.” “Then why aren’t you on your feet, boy?”
Tael was the second son of the Duke of Derex, a small, impoverished, insignificant island. The Queen’s
Guard was the only place a second son of Derex would be in a position to lord it over a Prince of Senet.

Kirsh gained his feet, a little unsteadily, and squared his shoulders. He was not going to let Tael see how
much pain he was in. “I’m awake. Satisfied?” Tael laughed sourly. “It’d take more than seeing your ugly
face first thing in the morning to satisfy me, Senet. Rove Elan wants to see you. You’re to report to him
before breakfast.”

“Did he say why?”

“I’m not his damn secretary, or yours either. You want to know what the Lord Marshal wants, you’re