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

Rod glanced around, wondering if Brom was here to see his grandchildren wed—but there he was
by the king and queen, of course, for his elfin nature was secret; they took him for a mortal dwarf, and
he who had been jester to Catharine's father had become her privy councilor. Rod knew the gray in his
hair was carefully contrived, for Brom, like all elves, would still be living when the rest of them had
been a century in their graves.

He turned back to the altar, determined to banish so melancholy a thought—just in time, for the
archbishop had stepped up by Cordelia and was asking, "Who gives this woman to this man?"

Last-minute panic rose in Rod, but he overrode it to say with Gwen, "My spouse and I!"

Then the archbishop moved on to Quicksilver and asked again, "Who gives this woman to this
man?" and her mother and sister answered, "We do!"

On the archbishop went to Allouette, who stood rock-firm but with a trembling bouquet, and
intoned, "Who gives this woman to this man?" and Tuan and Catharine answered, "As her liege and
sovereign, we do!"

Then the archbishop returned to stand between the line of young women and the line of young men
to ask, "Do you, Cordelia, Quicksilver, and Allouette, take Alain, Geoffrey, and Gregory for your
lawfully-wedded husbands, for better or for worse, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in
sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

Cordelia's answer pealed forth: "I do." Quicksilver answered a beat later, "I do!" Allouette
swallowed thickly but glanced at Gregory and froze, her gaze on his as she whispered, "I do."

Gregory seemed to glow.

The archbishop turned to the three young men. "Do you, Alain, Geoffrey, and Gregory, take these
women Cordelia, Quicksilver, and Allouette, to be your lawfully-wedded wives, for better or for worse,
to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

Alain stammered, "I do!"

Geoffrey, his gaze burning through Quicksilver's veil, said, "I do!"

Gregory, unable to take his eyes away from the veil that hid the face he loved so well, breathed, "I

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do."

"Then I now pronounce you husbands and wives."

The three couples stood, unbelieving, for a few seconds.

Gently, the archbishop explained, "You may kiss the brides."

The women lifted their veils, radiant; their husbands stepped close. As their lips touched, twelve