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

Kait stared at the parnissa, disbelieving. She said to thecaptain, “The parnissa’s neutral. By
suggestingcourses of action to you or interfering in any way with thenegotiations, he voids the
process and eliminates himself as thearbiter. Without an arbiter, we cannot negotiate. And if we
cannotnegotiate, we will have to kill Ry. You cannot use anythinghe’s told you. You have to
forget all of it.”

The captain closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. Then hesighed. “I hate diplomats.” He
looked over at theparnissa. “Just be quiet and observe, Loelas. The girl and Iwill work this out
without any help from you. This is — thishas to be — between the two of us.”

She caught something that surprised her then. The faintest ghostof a smile passed across the
captain’s lips, and the slightestscent of admiration reached her sensitive nose.

“Let’s dicker, girl,” he said.

She nodded.

“You want safe passage for your people, medical help forone of ’em — I’m guessing one that
isn’there.”

“Yes.”

“Fair enough. I’ll give you that right away, forRy’s life. Agreed?’
“Let me hear the rest first.”

“The rest? Well, yes, there is more.” His smile wasplainer now. He was enjoying something
about this — he’dthought of some trick, or perhaps some loophole that would let himgo back on
his word. “You want us to take you to Brelst. Icannot do that. By the time we get back there, the
Wizards’Circle storms will be at their worst, and Brelst gets the blow fromfour circles.”

Kait considered that, then nodded. “We’ll negotiatefor another port, then.”

He pursed his lips and blew out his cheeks until he looked likea puff-fish. “Phah! The port isn’t
the biggest problem.The Mirror of Souls is the problem. What I’ve heard about thatis . . .
frightening. To take it on board my ship,I’m going to need something extra.”

“I understand your position,” she said. “But Icannot permit the Mirror of Souls to stay with the
parnissa or togo to Calimekka. If that’s your demand, we all diehere.”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to agree to givingthe parnissa your prize, girl. You came all
the way across theocean and braved terrible dangers to get it.”

She nodded. And waited.

“Something you’ve gone through so much to get, youdeserve to have, don’t you agree?”

She nodded again, slowly sensing a trap closing around her butnot able to see where it was
coming from.

“Good.” The captain smiled a tiny smile. “Becauseeverything you went through to get your prize,