"Liz Williams - La Malcontenta" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Liz)

powder against the swing of the hem of her heavy coat. She is thinking of the festival, of her friend
Vanity, whom she is planning to seduce tonight (or be seduced by, even more hopefully). She is trying
not to think about her sister.

When she reaches Calmaretto, she does not hesitate but puts her eye to the haunt-lock. The scanner
glows with blacklight, an eldritch sparkle, as the lock reads her soul-engrams through the hollow of her
eye. The door opens. Essegui steps through into a maelstrom of festivity.

Both her mothers are shouting at one another, at the servants, and then, without even a pause for breath,
at Essegui.

"—There's not enough sugar and only a little haemomon? Why didn't you order more?"

"—Canteley's best dress has a stain, she refuses to wear it even under her robes—"

"And I cannot find the tracing-spoon anywhere!"

Essegui ignores all this. She says, "What about Shorn?"

The silence is immediate and tense. Her mothers stare at Essegui, then at one another. "What about her?"

"You know very well," Essegui says. "You have to let her out. Tonight."

Upstairs, in the windowless heart of Calmaretto, Shorn Harn sits. Her birth name is Leretui, but she has
been told that this is no longer her name: she has been shorn of it, and this is the only name she can take
from now on. She does not know that it is the day of Ombre, because the sound of the bell rung by her
sister has not penetrated the inner walls of Calmaretto. Nor can she witness the haste and bustle outside
in the street, the skaters skimming up and down Canal-the-Less, because she has not been permitted to
set foot in a room with windows. She is allowed books, but not writing materials or an antiscribe, in case
she finds a way to send a message.

At this thought, Shorn's mouth gives a derisory twist. There would be little point in composing a message,
since the one for whom it would be intended cannot read, cannot be taught to read, and is unlikely ever
to communicate with someone who can. But Shorn's mothers will not countenance even the slightest
possibility that a message might be sent, and thus Shorn is no longer allowed to see her little sister
Canteley, as Canteley is young enough to view the scenario as romantic, no matter how many times her
mothers have impressed upon her that Shorn is both transgressor and pervert. She is occasionally
permitted to see Essegui, since Essegui is of a similar mind to the mothers.

Essegui usually only puts her head around the door once a week, though Shorn finds it difficult to
estimate the days. Even so, she is surprised when the door hisses open and Essegui strides through, snow
falling in flakes from her outdoor coat.

"Essegui?" Shorn turns her head away and does not rise. "What is it?"

"Ombre falls today. I've told our mothers that you are to be allowed out, when the gongs ring for dusk."

Shorn's mouth falls open and she stares at her sister.

"Out? And they agreed?"