"Holly Lisle - Secret Texts 2 - Vengeance Of Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)

His eyes went wide, and he froze. She felt the tremor thatjolted through his body.

“Be still,” she said softly, “or you will die.This is not you and me, Ry. This is Galweigh and
Sabir, and Wolvesand Falcons; this is the way things have to be.”

Ian stepped out of the other half of the shield Hasmal had spunfor the two of them, sword drawn,
smiling. Kait could seeIan’s hatred; she could smell it. Hasmal’s magic hadhidden everything
about them — scent and form and mass andmovement and shadow, the sounds of breath and
heartbeat and nervousmovement — but it could never have worked so well if she hadnot offered
herself as bait. They had been truly invisible onlybecause Ry had all of his attention focused on
her. They had becomecompletely invisible to her only when she lost herself in herdesire for him.

“How — ?” Ry started to ask, but Ian snarled,“Silence, you bastard,” and Hasmal, more calmly,
said,“Down on your knees.”

Kait saw the shock and dismay and the hurt in his eyes, andsteeled herself to do what she had to
do. She told him,“Don’t Shift. The blade is poisoned with refaille— you’ll die before you can
complete yourtransformation.” She gritted her teeth and willed away thetears building in her
eyes.

We all decide what we will have in our lives, she thought. Wedecide what we will do; we decide
what we will say. And when wedecide, then we pay the price. He is the price I must pay to getthe
Mirror to the Reborn, to save my friends’ lives, toresurrect my parents, my bothers and sisters,
and my Family.

Ry kept his eyes on hers, and she made herself watch what Hasmaland Ian did to him. They
forced him to his knees, and bound hishands and his ankles. She told them how to tie him so that
the ropewould hold even if he Shifted. She never looked away from him. Shewould not be a
coward. She would watch the consequences of heraction, the end result of her plan. She would
not hide herself fromthe price she paid.

He did not look away from her, either. With his eyes he told herI love you, even though you
betrayed me; the look she gavehim in return said, I love you, too, but love doesn’tmatter.

Something in the air caught her attention, and she turned away.She parted her lips and took in one
slow, careful breath. Comingalong the ridge . . . being careful to make no noise. . . yes. She said,
“Someone followed him.He’s trying to circle behind us.” She could smell him— a man who let
himself get upwind because he wasn’t usedto thinking about people with senses more acute than
his own.
She looked back to Ry. “What’s his name?”

She could see him toy with the idea of lying. But his eyesflicked downward, to the poisoned
blade at his throat, and he toldher.

She shouted, “Yanth! Stop where you are!”

Hasmal said to Ry, “No words. We’ll do the talking foryou.”

Ian added, “Or for your corpse if you give us reason.Please . . . give us a reason.”