"Zelazny, Roger - Amber 10 - Prince Of Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

Turning to my right again I beheld the face of Nayda within a silver mirror, its surface and curled frame of a single piece.
"Nayda! What are you down on me for?"
"Nothing," the ty'iga lady replied. "I'm just passing through, and I need directions."
"You don't hate me? How refreshing!"
"Hate you? Don't be silly. I could never do that."
"Everyone else in this gallery seems irritated with me."
"It's only a dream, Merlin. You're real, I'm real, and I don't know about the others."
"I'm sorry my mother put you under that spell to protect me--all those years ago. Are you really free of it now? If you're not, perhaps I can--"
"I'm free of it."
"I'm sorry you had so much trouble fulfilling its terms--not knowing whether it was Luke or me you were supposed to be guarding. Who'd have known there'd be two Amberites in the same neighborhood in Berkeley?"
"I'm not sorry."
"What do you mean?"
"I came for directions. I want to know how I can find Luke."
"Why, in Kashfa. He was just crowned king the other day. What do you need him for?"
"Hadn't you guessed?"
"No."
"I'm in love with him. Always was. Now that I'm free of the geas and have a body of my own, I want him to know that I was Gail--and how I feel. Thanks, Merlin. Good-bye."
"Wait! "
"Yes?"
"I never said thanks for your protecting me all those years--even if it was only a compulsion for you, even if it got to be a big bother for me. Thanks, and good luck."
She smiled and faded away. I reached out and touched the mirror.
"Luck," I thought I heard her say.
Strange. It was a dream. Still--I couldn't awaken, and it felt real. I--
"You made it back to the Courts in time for all the scheming, I see"--this from a mirror three paces ahead, black-bound and narrow.
I moved to it. My brother Jurt glared out at me.
"What do you want?" I asked.
His face was an angry parody of my own.
"I want you never to have been," he said. "Failing that, I'd like to see you dead."
"What's your third choice?" I asked.
"Your confinement to a private hell, I guess."
"Why?"
"You stand between me and everything I want."
"I'll be glad to step aside. Tell me how."
"There's no way you can or will, on your own."
"So you hate me?"
"Yes."
"I thought your bath in the Fountain destroyed your emotions."
"I didn't get the full treatment, and it only made them stronger."
"Any way we can forget the whole thing and start over again, be friends?"
"Never."
"Didn't think so."
"She always cared more about you than me, and now you're going to have the throne."
"Don't be ridiculous. I don't want it."
"Your desires have nothing to do with the matter."
"I won't have it:"
"Yes, you will--unless I kill you first."
"Don't be stupid. It's not worth this."
"One day soon, when you least expect it, you will turn and see me. It will be too late."
The mirror grew entirely black.
"Jurt!"