"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Black Throne 02 - The Black King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

Blue Isle within a month. She had laughed at him, and told him the best way was to go
through Vion, and catch a ship out of Tashco on the Etanien continent, bypassing Galinas
altogether. Her guidance had saved them months of travel. She was going to leave them
in Tashco, but he had persuaded her to come to Blue Isle, a place she had never been.
At that point, they hadn’t been lovers, but the possibility had been there. He liked to
think she had made this trip for him, but she had never said that. He knew that her
natural curiosity and distaste for rules might have been the thing that convinced her to
come.
Also, knowledge of Blue Isle would make her much more valuable as a guide. She
needed as much experience as possible. The Fey were not known as natural guides. It
wasn’t part of their magic. It wasn’t really part of Skya’s magic either, but that didn’t
seem to matter. She was born with a Spell Warder’s talent—the ability to create spells for
all types of magics, which meant that she had a little bit of all of the magics that existed
among the Fey—but the Warders were also the most rule-bound of all the Fey. Such a job
would have driven her crazy.
“It may be my ship,” he said, “but I can always use your advice.”
“I have no advice to give,” she said. “I’ll watch you maneuver through the Stone
Guardians, but I’m still not sure they’re as dangerous as you say.”
He stared at her for a moment, measuring. She raised her eyebrows, then shrugged.
“This is a new world for me, Gift.”
He nodded. Just as everything had been new for him in Vion and Etanien. She had
been surprised at that. She had thought that the Heir to the Black Throne should have
understood everything about the Empire. Now that he had traveled a lot, that concept
made sense to him too.
But Arianna had never been off Blue Isle. She had no idea that women went shirtless in
half the Empire or that there were still slaves in rebellious regions like Co.
To Arianna, Blue Isle had been the entire world.
It felt strange to be back here. Sometimes he questioned his own motives in returning.
Was he coming back to solve a problem he didn’t entirely understand? Or had the touch
of the Black Throne done something more to him?
When he had wrenched his hand free of the Throne, it had emitted a white light that
had triggered a series of Visions, Visions he could still see if he closed his eyes.
—His long-dead great-grandfather, sitting on the throne in Blue Isle, smiling at him—
—And his sister was standing before the Black Throne, looking at it with such longing
that it frightened him. He wanted to warn her, to tell her to stand back, but he almost
didn’t recognize her or the look on her face. He took a step toward her—
—He was in water, thrashing, an undertow pulling him down. Water filled his mouth,
tasting of brine and salt. The old Fey in the boat—his great-grandfather again? Or
someone who looked like him?—reached for Gift, but if Gift took his hand, the old man
would die. And Gift didn’t want that. He didn’t want to cause someone else’s death—
—His sister, her face gone as if someone had drawn it and then wiped it away, calling
his name—
—His long-ago best friend, the man to whom he’d always be Bound, Coulter, kissing a
Fey woman, kissing her, and then Gift grabbing him, pulling his head back, and putting a
knife to his throat. He had to—
—His sister, screaming—
—In the Places of Power, two Shaman stood at the door, preparing to find the Triangle
of Might. He couldn’t stop them. He was trying, trying, but he didn’t have the strength—
“Gift?” Skya said.
“What?”