"Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts - empire 3 mistress of the empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

years, since Mara's marriage to Hokanu, had the sunnier
side of the boy's nature gained ascendancy.

The fortress of the Minwanabi, Ayaki had been fond of
pointing out, had never been so much as besieged. The
defences her;,,were impregnable to an enemy. Moreover,
Mara was a Servant of the Empire. The title carried favor
with the gods, and luck enough to ward away misfortune.

Now, Mara berated herself for allowing his childish,
blind faith to influence her. She had used traditions and
superstitions to her advantage often enough in the past.
She had been a vain fool not to see that the same things
could be exploited against her.

It seemed an injustice that the child should have paid,
and not her.

His small half-brother, Justin, had helped lighten Ayaki's
bleak spells. Her second son was the child of the barbarian
slave she still loved. She had only to close her eyes for
an instant and Kevin's face came to mind, nearly always
smiling over some ridiculous joke, his red hair and beard
shining copper under Kelewan's sun. With him she had
shared none of the harmonious rapport she now enjoyed
with Hokanu. No, Kevin had been tempestuous, impulsive,
at times passionately illogical. He would not have hidden
his grief from her, but would have freed his feelings in an
explosive storm; in his intense expression of life she might
have found the courage to face this outrage. Young Justin
had inherited his father's carefree nature. He laughed easily,
was quick to get into mischief, and already evidenced a fast

Tragedy

27

tongue. Like his father before him, Justin had a knack for
snapping Ayaki out of his brooding. He would run on fat
legs, trip, and tumble over laughing, or he would make
ridiculous faces until it was impossible to be near him and
stay withdrawn.

But there would be no more shared laughter for Ayaki
now.

Mara shivered, only that moment conscious of the
presence of someone at her side. Hokanu had entered
the chamber in the uncannily silent manner he had learned
from the foresters on the barbarian world.