"Hearn,.Lian.-.Otori.02.-.Grass.For.His.Pillow.v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hearn Lian)

“What about documents, proof?”

“They were lost when Inuyama fell, along with everything else. The
child will be Shigeru’s. If it is a boy, it will be the heir to the Otori.”

“That is too far in the future to think about,” Kaede said quickly.
“Don’t tempt fate.” For Shigeru’s real unborn child came into her
mind, the one that had perished silently within its mothers body in
the waters of the river at Inuyama. She prayed that its ghost would
not be jealous, she prayed her own child would live.

Before the end of the week the sickness had eased a little.
Kaede’s
breasts swelled, her nipples ached, and she became suddenly,
urgently hungry at unexpected times, but otherwise she began to
feel well, better than she had ever felt in her life. Her senses were
heightened almost as if the child shared its gifts with her. She
noted with amazement how Shizuka’s secret information spread
through the men as, one by one, they began to address her as
Lady Otori, in lowered voices and with averted eyes. The pretense
made her uneasy, but she went along with it, not knowing what else
to do.

She studied the men carefully, trying to discern which was the
member of the Tribe who would protect Shizuka when the moment
came. Shizuka had regained her cheerfulness and laughed and
joked with them all equally, and they all responded, with different
emotions ranging from appreciation to desire, but not one of them
seemed to be particularly vigilant.

Because they rarely looked at Kaede directly, they would have
been surprised at how well she came to know them. She could
distinguish each of them in the dark by his tread or his voice,
sometimes even by his smell. She gave them names: Scar, Squint,
Silent, Long Arm.

Long Arm’s smell was of the hot spiced oil that the men used to
flavor their rice. His voice was low, roughly accented. He had a look
about him that suggested insolence to her, a sort of irony that
annoyed her. He was of medium build, with a high forehead and
eyes that bulged a little and were so black he seemed to have no
pupils. He had a habit of screwing them up and then sniffing with a
flick of his head. His arms were abnormally long and his hands big.
If anyone were going to murder a woman, Kaede thought, it would
be him.

In the second week a sudden storm delayed them in a small
village. Confined by the rain to the narrow, uncomfortable room,
Kaede was restless. She was tormented by thoughts of her