"Stephen Goldin - Storyteller" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

“That is ever the lot of women,” Rabah said.

“Well, it won't be that way for me. I shall control my own destiny. I'll love whom I please and take my
pleasure where I like. No man will control me."
“Brave words, Your Highness."

“But you disapprove, is that it?” Princess Oma said, reading the older woman's tone.

“I would counsel wisdom to back up the bravery,” Rabah said as her hands soothed the tension of anger
from Oma's lithe body. “It's the way of the world that men believe they have control. To defy that would
be to stand against the current of a powerful river; if one but swims the river instead, it's easier to reach
one's destination."

“I don't want to marry Haroun. I hear he's perfectly awful, and he does cruel things to slave girls."

“Yet you helped me convince your father to betray his agreement with Ahmad."

“I didn't want to marry Ahmad, either,” Princess Oma said with a pout. “I don't want to marry anyone.
Why should I be shackled to only one lover all my life when my husband can have many wives and
concubines? I want the freedom to love whom I choose, when I choose, how I choose. Is that so
terrible?"

“Not at all,” Rabah said. “But in the world as it is, we women must practice a little caution.” She
hesitated a moment. “Could it be that Your Highness is afraid of a man's love?” Rabah knew that Oma
had been raised among women; the only men she saw were eunuchs, some of her tutors, and her father.
Some trepidation on her part would be perfectly natural.

“I've never tried any men, of course,” Oma said. “A princess's maidenhead is a valuable commodity, and
I'm not going to throw it away on a whim."

“If you'll accept my word for now, the love of a man can be just as exciting as the love of a woman,”
Rabah told her.

“Thank you. I'll look forward to it. But may Oromasd grant that my first experience not be with Prince
Haroun."

Rabah's strong hands manipulated the muscles of Oma's back, relaxing the last of the tension beneath the
taut young flesh. For several moments the two drifted in silence. Then Oma spoke again.

“They say Ahmad used powerful sorcery to escape my father's trap. Do you believe that?"

“Many things are possible."

“Ahmad, a sorcerer. Why, he could swoop into the room this very minute and cast a spell on us so
neither of us could move. We'd be helpless before him and he could ravish us both on the spot if he
chose, don't you think?"

“If that frightens you, all the more reason to go to Ravan. No magic can touch you in the Holy City."

“Frighten? Rabah, that would be the most exciting thing that ever happened to me.” She sighed. “But it