"David Weber - Dahak 03 - Heirs of Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)
dominated by the cloud-banded green-and-blue sphere of the planet Birhat, and Amanda shivered. Not
from cold, but with the icy breeze that always seemed to whisper down her spine whenever she stepped
into the perfection of the holographic display.
"Hi, Amanda. Tao-ling." His Imperial Majesty Colin I, Grand Duke of Birhat, Prince of Bia, Sol,
Chamhar, and Narhan, Warlord and Prince Protector of the Realm, Defender of the Five Thousand
Suns, Champion of Humanity, and, by the Maker's Grace, Emperor of Mankind, swiveled his couch to
show them his homely, beak-nosed face and grinned. "I see Tamman peeled off early."
"When last seen, he was headed for the park deck," Tsien agreed.
"Well, he's in for a surprise." Colin chuckled. "Harry and Dahak finally bullied Sean into letting Sandy
try her hand at laser tag."
"Oh, my!" Amanda laughed. "I'll bet that was an experience!"
"Aye." Empress Jiltanith, slender as a sword and as beautiful as Colin was homely, rose to embrace
Amanda. "Belike he'll crow less loud anent her youth henceforth. His pride hath been humbled—for the
nonce, at least."
"He'll get over it," Hector MacMahan remarked. The Imperial Marine Corps' commandant leaned on
the gunnery officer's console while his wife occupied the couch before it. Like Amanda, he wore Marine
black and silver, but Ninhursag MacMahan wore Battle Fleet's midnight-blue and gold, and she smiled.
"Not if Sandy has anything to say about it. One of these days that girl's going to make an excellent
spook."
"You should know," Colin said, and Ninhursag managed a seated bow in his direction. "In the
meantime, I—"
"Excuse me, Colin," Dahak murmured, "but Admiral Hatcher's cutter has docked."
"Good. Looks like we can get this show on the road pretty soon."
"I hope so," Horus said. The stocky, white-haired Planetary Duke of Terra shook his head. "Every
when I get back!"
Colin nodded at his father-in-law in agreement, but he was watching the Tsiens. Tao-ling seated
Amanda with an attentiveness so focused it was almost unconscious . . . and one that might seem odd to
those who knew only Star Marshal Tsien's reputation or knew General Amanda Tsien only as the
tough-as-nails commandant of Fort Hawter, the Imperial Marines' advanced training base on Birhat.
Colin, on the other hand, understood it perfectly, and he was profoundly grateful to see it.
Amanda Tsien feared nothing that lived, but she was also an orphan. She'd been only nine years old
when she learned a harsh universe's cruelest weapon could be love . . . and she'd relearned that lesson
when Tamman, her first husband, died at Zeta Trianguli Australis. Colin and Jiltanith had watched
helplessly as she hid herself in her duties, sealing herself into an armored shell and investing all the emotion
she dared risk in Tamman's son. She'd become an automaton, and there'd been nothing even an emperor
could do about it, but Tsien Tao-ling had changed that.
Many of the marshal's personnel feared him. That was wise of them, yet something in Amanda had
called out to him, despite her defenses, and the man the newsies called "the Juggernaut" had approached
her so gently she hadn't even realized he was doing it until it was too late. Until he'd been inside her
armor, holding out his hand to offer her the heart few people believed he had . . . and she'd taken it.
She was thirty years younger than he, which mattered not at all among the bio-enhanced. After all,
Colin was over forty years younger than Jiltanith, and she looked younger than he. Of course,
chronologically she was well over fifty-one thousand years old, but that didn't count; she'd spent all but
eighty-odd of those years in stasis.
"How're Hsu-li and Collete?" he asked Amanda, and she chuckled.
"Fine. Hsu-li was a bit ticked we didn't bring him along, but I convinced him he should stay to help
take care of his sister."
Colin shook his head. "That wouldn't have worked with Sean and Harry."
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