"David Farland - Runelords 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farland David)

"He has always liked Heredon," Gaborn said.
"Yes...yes, he comes often enough," Myrrima said, clearly discomfited. "I--pardon me if I troubled you, my lord. I did not
mean to be presumptuous. Oh..."
Myrrima turned and began to run.
"Stop," Gaborn said, letting just a little of the power of his Voice take her.
She stopped as if she'd been struck by a fist, turned to face him. As did several other people nearby.
Unprepared for the command, they obeyed as if it had come from their own minds. When they saw that they were not the
object of his attention, some stared at him curiously while a few started away, unnerved by the appearance of a Runelord in
their midst.
Suddenly, Borenson hovered at Gaborn's back, with the Days.
"Thank you for stopping, Myrrima," Gaborn said.
"You may someday be my king," she answered, as if she'd reasoned out her response.
"Do you think so?" Gaborn said. "Do you think Iome will have me?"
The question startled her. Gaborn continued. "Please, tell me. You are a perceptive woman, and beautiful. You would do
well at court. I value your opinion."
Gaborn held his breath, waiting for her frank assessment. She couldn't know how important her answer was to him. Gaborn
needed this alliance. He needed Heredon's strong people, its impregnable fortresses, its wide-open lands, ready to till. True, his
own Mystarria was a rich land-ripe, its markets sprawling and crowded--but after years of struggle the Wolf Lord Raj Ahten
had finally conquered the Indhopalese Kingdoms, and Gaborn knew that Raj Ahten would not stop there. By spring, he would
either invade the barbarian realms of Inkarra or he would turn north to the kingdoms in Rofehavan.
In reality, it didn't matter where the Wolf Lord attacked next. In the wars to come, Gaborn knew he'd never be able to
adequately defend his people in Mystarria. He needed this land.
Even though Heredon had not seen a major war in four hundred years, the realm's great battlements remained intact. Even
the fortress at lowly Tor Ingel, set among the cliffs, could be defended better than most of Gaborn's estates in Mystarria.
Gaborn needed Heredon. He needed Iome's hand in marriage.
More important, though he dared not admit it to anyone, something deep inside told him that he needed Iome herself. An odd
compulsion drew him here, against all common sense. As if invisible fiery threads were connected to his heart and mind.
Sometimes at night he'd lie awake, feeling the tug, an odd glowing sensation that spread outward from the center of his chest,
as if a warm stone lay there. Those threads seemed to pull him toward Iome. He'd fought the urge to seek her hand for a year
now, until he could fight no more.
Myrrima studied Gaborn once again with her marvelous frankness. Then laughed easily. "No," she said. "Iome will not have
you."
There had been no hesitancy in her answer. She had said it simply, as if she'd seen the truth of it. Then she smiled at him
seductively. But I want you, her smile said.
"You sound certain." Gaborn tried to seem casual. "Is it merely my clothes? I did bring more suitable attire."
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"You may be from the most powerful kingdom in Rofehavan, but...how shall I put this? Your politics are suspect."
It was a kind way to accuse him of being immoral. Gaborn had feared Such an accusation.
"Because my father is a pragmatist?" Gaborn asked.
"Some think him pragmatic, some think him...too acquisitive." Gaborn grinned. "King Sylvarresta thinks him pragmatic...but
his daughter thinks my father is greedy? She said this?"
Myrrima smiled and nodded secretively. "I've heard rumors that she said as much at the midwinter feast."
Gaborn was often amazed at how much the commoners knew or surmised about the comings and goings and doings of lords.
Things that he'd often thought were court secrets would be openly discussed at some inn a hundred leagues distant. Myrrima
seemed sure of her sources.
"So she will reject my petition, because of my father."
"It has been said in Heredon that Prince Orden is 'much like his father.' "
"Too much like his father?" Gaborn asked. A quote from Princess Sylvarresta? Probably spoken to quell any rumors of a
possible match. It was true that Gaborn had his father's look about him. But Gaborn was not his father. Nor was his father,
Gaborn believed, as "acquisitive" as Iome accused him of being.