"Christopher Stasheff - Warlock 13 - Warlock's Last Ride" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

"Brother," Gregory said gravely as he led forth the stunning vision with the cloud of golden hair,
"meet my bride, Allouette."

She stepped forward hesitantly, very hesitantly, seeming almost ready to run, eyes wide with
apprehension. "You need not speak to me if you do not wish. We have already met."

Witch! Alea clamped her lips shut to keep the word in. This was she, this was the tormentor of her

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...0-%20Warlock%2013%20-%20Warlock's%20Last%20Ride.txt (16 of 247)20-2-2006 23:44:27
 file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20d...%20Stasheff%20-%20Warlock%2013%20-%20Warlock's%20Last%20Ride.txt

Magnus, the one who had tortured his heart, who had humiliated and shamed him. She was glad she did
not know how the woman had maimed him, for she was having trouble enough keeping herself from
rushing forward to strike the she-wolf down where she stood.

"Met you? I never have." Magnus took her hand, albeit somewhat stiffly, and her fingers lay in his
palm as though they were lifeless—but his smile, though fixed, was still in place, and he actually
managed to summon some warmth into his eyes. "I never met you with no guise but your own, and I
must say it is far more fair than any illusion you projected."

Allouette blushed and lowered her gaze, and Alea knew enough of men to realize that the gesture
made her even more appealing—but Magnus seemed not to notice. She looked up, looked him squarely
in the face. "Gregory has told me that when logic dictated my death, yours was one of the voices that
spoke for mercy. I thank you for my life."

"And I you, for giving my brother the happiness that I thought would never be his." But Magnus
still stood stiffly.

The silence was brief but awkward.

Then Magnus raised his head, looking around the little group, and asked, "Our father … is he …"

"By Mama's beside," Cordelia told him. "Not even for your homecoming would he leave her now—
but I know he is almost as anxious for sight of you as he is for each breath of hers. Come, brother."

She started to turn away, but Magnus caught her arm. "No, wait. You must all meet my shield-
mate." He turned to Alea with a smile of relief, but his eyes were haunted, pleading. She stared at him in
shock, not understanding, but he only said, "How have you managed to find a shadow to cloak you, even
here?"

"By full-moon light, when there is so much of you to cast that shadow?" Alea demanded. "How
hard could that be?" She stepped forward nonetheless, gripping her staff to keep her hands from shaking,
looking from Geoffrey to Gregory to Cordelia, and pointedly not at the ladies. "I am Alea, whom he
took in from charity."

"Say rather, from an instinct for self-preservation!" Magnus protested, and explained to his sibs,
"She has saved my life a dozen times at least."

"And you mine," Alea retorted.