"Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse 4.5 - One Word Answer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harris Charlaine)

Waldo nodded, with a certain dignity. "I have that honor."


I hoped I'd never receive such an honor. "And Hadley was, too?"


Waldo's face remained placid, though a muscle twitched in his jaw. "For a time."


Mr. Cataliades said, "The queen was pleased with Hadley's enthusiasm and childlike ways. Hadley was
only one of a series of favorites. Eventually, the queen's favor would have fallen on someone else, and
Hadley would have had to carve out another place in the queen's entourage."


Waldo looked quite pleased at that and nodded. "That's the pattern."


I couldn't get why I was supposed to care, and Bill made a small movement that he instantly stilled. I
caught it out of the corner of my eye, and I realized Bill didn't want me to speak. Pooh on him; I hadn't
been going to, anyway.


Mr. Cataliades said, "Of course, your cousin was a little different from her predecessors. Wouldn't you
say, Waldo?"


"No," Waldo said. "In time, it would have been just like before." He seemed to bite his lip to stop himself
from talking; not a smart move for a vampire. A red drop of blood formed, sluggishly. "The queen would
have tired of her. I know it. It was the girl's youth, it was the fact that she was one of the new vampires
who has never known the shadows. Tell our queen that, Cataliades, when you return to New Orleans. If
you hadn't kept the privacy glass up, the whole trip, I could have discussed this with you as I drove. You
don't have to shun me, as though I were a leper."


Mr. Cataliades shrugged. "I didn't want your company," he said. "Now, we'll never know how long
Hadley would have reigned as favorite, will we, Waldo?"


We were on to something here, and we were being goaded and prodded in that direction by Waldo's
companion, Mr. Cataliades. I wondered why. For the moment, I'd follow his lead. "Hadley was real
pretty," I said. "Maybe the queen would've given her a permanent position."


"Pretty girls glut the market," Waldo said. "Stupid humans. They don't know what our queen can do to
them."


"If she wants to," Bill murmured. "If this Hadley had a knack for delighting the queen, if she had Sookie's