"Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis - Ill Met by Moonlight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

allowed to keep their memories the better to assist Denoriel and Aleneil in protecting Henry FitzRoy.
Instead, they had been deprived of the ability to speak of what they knew.

Gerrit grinned. "Oh, Tolliver's here. Not so much a starved boy anymore, m'lord. Real hafling, he is. Half
in love with m'lady. Follows her like a puppy when she's out of the palace."

"Well, it cannot hurt to have a devoted and watchful eye on her," Denoriel said, frowning suddenly. "I
know there is a true heir to the throne now, may he thrive and live long, but there might be those who
wish her ill for . . . for reasons . . . best left unsaid."

"Yes, m'lord." Gerrit looked slightly startled and slightly concerned too. "Thank you, m'lord. I'll keep that
in mind and warn the others."

"Good man." Denoriel nodded to him and rode through the gate into the courtyard where Aleneil was
already dismounted and waiting for him.

Ladbroke was holding Ystwyth—carefully not touching the illusory rings of the bit. "Glad to see you
home safe at last, m'lord," he said to Denoriel as he dismounted.

"And I am glad to see you here in Lady Elizabeth's service."

Ladbroke took hold of Miralys's halter, taking care not actually to put any pressure on it because he
knew it would simply slip off the elvensteed's head. He bobbed a bow as he clucked to his charges and
began to turn toward the stable. He stopped, uncertain of what Denoriel knew, and then decided to give
him the basic information he might need.

"Lady Alana was good enough to recommend us to Lady Bryan, who was then governess, when several
of the stablehands left because they didn't want to be in a disgraced household. And then the groom of
the chamber was discovered to be lining his pockets in anticipation of being without a position so he was
dismissed. Lady Elizabeth recognized Dunstan, too—"

Denoriel did his best not to goggle. "At three?"

"Lady Elizabeth is a . . . is unusual, m'lord."

At that moment Reeve Tolliver, who Denoriel remembered as a starved boy of twelve plucked from a
workhouse, came to the door of the small stable and called that the stalls were ready. He was now a tall,
broad-shouldered young man, still with an unruly shock of hair above a plain but pleasant face.

"I'll take these two in and settle them. You go take a look at the brown carriage horse's off fore. I was
just about to do that when Lady Alana rode in."

"Not favoring it," Tolliver said, frowning slightly.

"No, but it looked swollen," Kip replied. "Maybe it was just the light, but it can't hurt to look."

And while he looked, Ladbroke would remove the bridles, which had no bits attached and were so
loosely fastened that Miralys and Ystwyth could rid themselves of the head-furniture with a brisk shake.
Denoriel smiled, lifted a hand, and followed Aleneil toward the entrance to the east wing of the palace
where Dunstan was waiting, bowing correctly but grinning with obvious delight to see Denoriel.