"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 01 - The Black Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Skan's part! After this situation was handled, Amberdrake resolved to go over and give Skan a verbal
flaying—asleep, injured, or in whatever condition he happened to be.
Zhaneel had disentangled herself from him only a moment before and was now watching his every
move for some cue to resume, her head bobbing up and down and hind-claws clenching.
Amberdrake wiped a palm across his face and turned back to speak to her pointedly. "Zhaneel, I
can't be the kind of lover you want. You and I aren't physically compatible. I just can't—"
A moment passed.
An unmistakable, inexplicable look of horror transformed Zhaneel's entire demeanor from one of
desperate desire to one of emotional devastation. She let out a gurgling cry and suddenly bolted through
the opened tent flap and into the darker and more private inner room.

Skandranon finished the annotated chapter on social organization among the southeastern tribes, and
luxuriated in the attention Gesten was giving his recently-battered crest.
By now she must feel like the most beautiful and capable gryphon in the entire world!
Amberdrake always knows how to say exactly the right thing to make someone feel good. He's
given me so many compliments, and he's hardly ever wrong. Maybe once I'm recovered, he can
give me a tryst-grooming, and we can talk about how much good my suggestion did Zhaneel.
The Black Gryphon sighed and settled down for a nap, smug in the knowledge that all was right with
the world as far as Zhaneel and Amberdrake were concerned.

Amberdrake found Zhaneel curled into a ball in the farthest corner of the tent, shivering, her head
tucked under her wings. It was a saddening, unnerving thing for Drake to see; this was the gryphon
equivalent of racking sobs, as bad as any he'd seen in mourning or after nightmares. Surging, palpable
waves of shame pounded at him; feelings of self-blame hissed in his mental "ears" the closer he got to her.
He braced himself to receive a backlash and reached out to touch her quivering body.
Instead of the expected strike, she didn't acknowledge his presence at all. Nothing. Yet, with the
touch, a staggering rush of sickening emotions blinded Amberdrake for the span of a heartbeat.
She hates herself. She genuinely hates herself. Self-doubt, self-pity, an overwhelming sense of
worthlessness, of loss. From a gryphon! This I could expect from a human, but from a gryphon?
They're all convinced that Urtho created them as an improvement on all other races! Who or
whatever made her this way was long in building. If it can be stopped, it has to stop now. If I can
change her—it has to start now.
He spoke quietly, soothingly. "Zhaneel?"
She whimpered, the barest whisper of sound.
"Shh, little one, I am here for you. Please listen. Please listen. I'll make you feel better, I promise it. I
am here for you." He moved in closer and folded his robed body across hers, to comfort her as he had
other distressed gryphons with the sensation of protective, caring wings wrapped over them. He could
feel her underneath him, body temperature high, breathing fast, and there, yes, her eyes tightly shut. Her
delicate ear-tufts folded back tight to her head. Drake stroked her neck feathers and spoke more
reassuring words, keeping his voice steady and deep, speaking "into" her, and held her as her shuddering
subsided.
The sexual anticipation earlier can help some, at least.... Amberdrake swam through Zhaneel's
nerves with his Healing powers, found her pleasure-centers, and gently stimulated them while he soothed
her with his words. Gryphons' bodies held stores of specialized fluids, elements, in various glands and
repositories, and the delicate touch of an experienced Healer could release them at the right time. A
careful nudge there and a feather-light stimulation so, and the "rewarding" sensation following a mating
coursed through her veins; in a small amount, by no means as great as the euphoria following a real
mating, but definitely there. It had the desired effect; she slowly went from quivering to a state of
relaxation—physically, at least—and uncurled from her ball after what felt like a harrowing eternity. All
the while, Amberdrake reassured her and spoke encouragements. It didn't cure any of her problems, no,