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

our parat wentthrough to rescue you. And if you deserve to keep your prize, youmust agree that
he deserves to keep his.”

Click. The trap snapped shut around her, and she had alreadyagreed with the captain that its bars
were solid and its useacceptable. “You want me to . . . give myself tohim?”

“No. I insist only that you share his quarters and remainhis companion throughout the return trip.
Meanwhile, I will sailyou and your friends and Ry and his friends and your Mirror ofSouls to a
neutral harbor: neither Brelst nor Calimekka. I thinkGlaswherry Hala might serve. Once you’re
on land, all of youmay go where you please. Should he decide to go with you, he may.Should he
decide to return to Calimekka with me, he may. In thatway, I will fulfill my duty to him and meet
your needs aswell.”

“You can’t let her have the Mirror!” theparnissa wailed.

“You can’t force Kait into Ry’scompany!” Ian snapped.

The captain glanced first at the parnissa, and for a moment Kaitsaw the hint of disdain that every
captain she’d ever knownheld toward the parnissery. It was the look that men who were trulyfree
and in charge of their own domains held toward those who chosethe path of bureaucracy. “I can
and I have.” He turned toIan. “And you . . . you are not a captain on myship. You are less than
nothing — you and the rest of yourpeople will be the parolees of this woman. As long as she
speaksfor you, I’ll see you’re treated with courtesy. But youhave no voice of your own. You
understand?”

Kait watched Ian from the corner of her eye. He blanched andnodded.

She wanted to refuse. Ry and his men would surely choose to“accompany” them once they were
on land, and she and Ianand Hasmal and Jayti would be outnumbered, and would lose theMirror
of Souls to the Sabir Family anyway. They would simply loseit closer to home. Meanwhile, she
would have to share quarters withRy, when sharing a continent with him already seemed
toointimate.

She could not demand that the captain guarantee she and herpeople would keep the Mirror once
they were on land again;Captain’s Law began and ended on the sea, and he could offernothing
that would bind Ry and his men beyond the decks of hisship. Further, she had chosen to negotiate
with him — shecould not now state that she wanted to negotiate with Ry, too. Ifshe tried to
demand too much, she’d lose everything.

She wanted to spit in the captain’s face and tell himshe’d sooner see him in hell. But she had
defined winning asgetting her people and the Mirror safely across the sea to theReborn. The
captain’s bargain would let her win, at leasttemporarily — and she would have the whole voyage
in which tofigure out a way to win permanently.

She stared into the captain’s eyes. “You swear toprotect my friends’ lives as if they were the lives
of yourown family or crew, protect our cargo as if it were your own, getus safely to a harbor that
isn’t Calimekka, and let all of usleave when we get there, permitting us to take the Mirror of
Soulswith us?”

“I swear.”