[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He angled his way around toward thedance floor near the musicians, for Jorim s reputation as a dancer had many anticipating his invitation.The second thing was his sister approaching him, filling the vacuum Jorim had left.The visible concern onher face braced him for some sort of trouble. Good evening, Nirati.Joy of the Festival to you. And you, brother. She linked her arm in his and drew him toward the room s northwest corner, wherethe crowd thinned. Mother has asked me to keep an eye on Jorim.The Viruk ambassador brought herconsort, and he is a Viruk warrior.Mother is afraid that he may have heard tales of Jorim having slainViruk on his travels.If he were to challenge Jorim. Jorim would accept.And either way it turned out, there would be trouble.Do you wish help on thatassignment? No, but it will keep me occupied the whole of the evening, I fear.I do need to warn you of somethingelse, though. What? Majiata is here.She arrived with a Desei noble exile of the Aerynnor family.Grandfather sent him aninvitation and suggested he bring Majiata.He seems rather gracious, whereas she is.herself.Keles felt a barbed serpent begin to coil in his guts. Do you want me to stay away from her? I reallydon t care that she is here. He put emphasis on his latter statement, hoping both of them could beconvinced it was true. I trust you to use your judgment and all will be well. Nirati kissed him on the cheek. Actually, I wantyou to have fun.I ll keep Jorim out of trouble for tonight, at least.After that, he s your responsibility forthe rest of the Festival. Great. Keles sighed, but smiled. You have as much fun as you can as well.I ll be careful and keep myeyes open. Good.I love you, Keles. And I you, Nirati.Go.His sister departed in a flash of gold silk, but Keles remained in the corner for a bit.The knowledge thatMajiata had chosen to attend his grandfather s birthday celebration surprised him.In the short time sinceshe had been forced to return his ring, he d let himself think back over their courtship.While they hadbeen affianced for two years, during a considerable amount of that time he d been traveling in the west,completing a survey of the navigable stretches of the Gold River.Back in the days of the Empire onecould sail from the Dark Sea all the way to the coast, but the glaciers that had come in the Cataclysm swake had deposited much debris in the river.The Prince wanted to know what work would have to bedone to make the river suitable for trade again, and Qiro had entrusted that job to Keles.When he was in Moriande and not working, he had attended social gatherings.On the latter occasionsMajiata had been with him and had been a perfect companion.She was polite and witty, rescuing himwhen he would let his enthusiasm carry him into detailed explanations of things that bored others to tears.When they were alone and there had been precious little privacy outside of bed Majiata hadsurrendered the maturity she had shown in public and become demanding, requesting gifts and throwingchildish tantrums.He d felt guilty for having spent so much time apart from her, so he weathered hermoods, thinking that it would all be better once they were married and living together.But recently he had begun to see what Nirati had likely seen from the beginning: these things would neverget better.While some people are capable of change, most are not.Majiata had no motive to changebecause Keles acceded to her every demand.And her family was certainly telling her that what she wasdoing was right.Keles shivered.In many ways it would have been easier had humans been as the Soth were rumored tobe.The Soth went through each life stage with a period of hibernation in between.Like caterpillars thatemerge as butterflies though the Soth changes were not nearly as pretty they reached points in theirlives where radical changes were necessary.As legend had it, they found a place to hibernate, tookmonths or years to reorder their thinking, then molded their shapes to suit and emerged new creatures,facing the world more wisely.And the Soth Gloon are even supposed to be able to see the future though to be seen by onebrings dire consequences.He smiled.One must have seen me when I was first introduced toMajiata.He wished he could just put Majiata out of his mind, but it wasn t that easy.He could remember hersmiles, her coos.While she d not been very attentive to his needs, he still craved human contact.Hewanted someone to look at him with eyes full of desire in the middle of the night, and the feeling he d notknow that again sent a trickle of fear through his bowels.He shook his head, watching his brother move from knot to knot of giggling women.Jorim was all but ajaecai in the art of flirtation.He had an exotic air about him because of his hair, the bruise on his eye, andthe stories he engendered.He was wild and unsafe, and the civilized women of the capital craved that.Whereas I m just safe.Keles sighed.Women had never flocked to him as they did his brother which was part of the reasonhe d fallen so hard for Majiata.She had played him well, making him feel desired.And while he did wantsomeone to share his life with, part of him wondered how he would ever know if he was being played, orif the interest was genuine.The sharp crack of Keru spear butts on the floor announced the arrival of someone important.Kelesglanced at the doorway, half-expecting to see Prince Cyron and his attendants, but instead he saw asingle, tall man clad entirely in midnight blue, save for a gold ribbon swirling down his left arm.PrincePyrust of Deseirion waited for the Keru to bring their spears back upright so he would not have to bowhis head to get past their spearpoints.He waited, but they did as well, relenting only after the time onewould have held a bow of respect for one of Imperial rank.The man moved into the ballroom entrance then paused, giving the Keru the chance to watch hisunprotected back.He reached up with his left hand to stroke his goatee.Though it and his light brownhair were shot with white, he did not look terribly old.Even at a distance, Keles saw that the Prince hadlost the last two fingers on his left hand.A large ring of state rode on what would have been the middlefinger.Even Keles knew the story of that ring.While the conquest of Helosunde had taken place well beforePyrust ever took the Desei throne, the royal line of Helosunde had not been eliminated.After Pyrustbecame prince, they led a strong incursion into Helosunde and Pyrust himself had headed the army thatopposed them.In his travels he was ambushed and wounded, losing both the fingers and the Desei ringof state.He survived, however, and in the subsequent battle shattered the Helosundian force, killing theCrown Prince.The new ring of state that he fashioned for himself came from the coronet he d pulledfrom the Helosundian Prince s head.Keles started to move toward the Prince to greet him, and the Prince, seeing him, strode in Kelesdirection.He even held up a hand to stop Keles from leaving the corner.At ten feet the Prince stopped,allowing Keles to bow, and the bow was returned respectfully.Pyrust looked him up and down. You clearly are an Anturasi.Keles, I assume? I am honored, Highness. The honor is mine.I dreamed of meeting you. A pleasant dream, I hope. Quite [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]