[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Exhausted after the events of the previous day discovering the truth ofMelina s sorcery would have been enough without the strain of visiting withher at the reception the night before Elise had trouble sleeping.At last shegave into Ninette s pleading and joined her in a cup of tea doctored with aninfusion of herbs which dragged her restless mind below the threshold ofnightmare.Consequently, Elise slept into late morning and woke with a muzzy head.Ninette was still asleep and Elise decided to wait upon her for once.Theother woman had been as shocked as she had been and was far more terrified.Unlike Elise, Ninette was not a baronial heir and clearly felt that whileMelina might withhold her hand from Elise, she might well make an exampleof her servant.Both Ivon Archer and Aurella Wellward held that any noble who couldnot perform at least the basic tasks of cooking, sewing, and the like wasdependent on her servants and so would become a slave to them.Therefore,Elise, had no difficulty tending to her own needs.Her father s valet had left a kettle to one side of the cook fire so there waswarm water for washing.Elise set another above the coals to heat water fortea, then stoked the fire until a cheerful blaze crackled beneath.Once again,the late-summer day promised to become quite hot.The air here near theriver was already thick and humid.It didn t promise well for tempers whenthe conferences began.Gowning herself in a light muslin dress with long sleeves of the samematerial that should help protect her skin from insect bites, Elise wished thatthere were a way for her to attend those conferences.Rumor and report wereno substitutes for actually seeing the expressions on people s faces or hearingtheir intonations as they spoke.Doubtless she was not the only one who felt that way and doubtless KingTedric would refuse anyone he could in order to be able to refuse those hegenuinely did not wish to attend.She supposed this must be an advantage ofmonarchy over the odd, oligarchical system used in Stonehold or theplutocracy of Waterland.Right now, however, she would give much forsomething like New Kelvin s parliamentary monarchy, where the reigning monarch always a king, an odd concept must answer to someone otherthan himself.When Ninette awakened, Elise had porridge and tea ready.Over the otherwoman s protests, she insisted on waiting on her.By the time Ninette hadfinished eating and dressing, there was color in her cheeks and the tendencyto blanch whenever she heard one of the Shields voices, carrying over fromtheir not too distant pitch, had vanished. Last night, Ninette admitted, sweetening her tea with pale gold cloverhoney, I couldn t stay here alone.The baron s man had gone to play at dicewith some other retainers, you see.Usually, I d find some of the other lady smaids, but I couldn t bear the company of that creaky-voiced old crone whoattends on Lady Melina.She s always hinting about her mistress s powers,especially to us younger ones when she thinks we re getting aboveourselves. Elise, who had been terrorized by the same old woman when she was achild, nodded sympathetically.She knew that it would make no difference tothat one that Ninette was well-born, her only fault that she was the daughterof a younger son with a tendency to gamble.Encouraged by Elise s sympathetic murmurs, Ninette continued, I wentover to Earl Kestrel s camp.I hope you don t think it improper of me, giventhat they are all men, but the earl s valet is very polite even courtly andDerian Carter may be brash, but he never oversteps himself. Were they the only ones there? Elise asked. Yes.Ox had gone with Earl Kestrel, as you recall.He couldn t attend thereception, of course, but he waited with the horses.The other man, thescout& Race. That s right Race Forester wasn t there.I think he spends much of histime with his fellow scouts.He may even have been on duty. Doesn t Sir Jared have a manservant? Not that I have seen, my lady.I don t think that, for all his honors, he isvery wealthy. No, Elise agreed. That is probably true.He mentioned that his familygrew grapes somewhere in Kestrel lands.That s hardly the basis of afortune. Then you don t mind that I went out? I think it was the smartest thing you could have done, Elise assured her. The question is, what should we do next? Next? Yes. Elise thought for a time, sipping her tea.She had decided not to tell Ninette about the curious pain she had feltwhen she had impulsively tried to tell Firekeeper and Derian about what shehad witnessed.The woman was terrified enough without wondering if she herself was cursed.Touching the carved piece of jet that hung around her neck, Elisewondered if she might have been particularly susceptible because of her link however slight to Jet.What if they had become lovers as he had pressed?Would taking his body into hers have increased the power his mother mighthold over her?She shuddered, feeling again that curious mixture of guilt and relief whenshe realized that Melina s curse served, evil as it was, to protect her fromJet s advances.Last night had been the first he had not tried to convince herto go for a walk in the woods or to duck into his tent.Either the curse haddulled his desires as well as his ability to act on them or he had feared thatshe would notice the difference in how his body expressed its ardor.She felt a stranger to herself as she realized again how much had changedin her feelings toward Jet.At first she had only kept him at a distance out ofa sense of propriety and she honestly admitted to herself a desire to testhis devotion before surrendering [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl przylepto3.keep.pl
.Exhausted after the events of the previous day discovering the truth ofMelina s sorcery would have been enough without the strain of visiting withher at the reception the night before Elise had trouble sleeping.At last shegave into Ninette s pleading and joined her in a cup of tea doctored with aninfusion of herbs which dragged her restless mind below the threshold ofnightmare.Consequently, Elise slept into late morning and woke with a muzzy head.Ninette was still asleep and Elise decided to wait upon her for once.Theother woman had been as shocked as she had been and was far more terrified.Unlike Elise, Ninette was not a baronial heir and clearly felt that whileMelina might withhold her hand from Elise, she might well make an exampleof her servant.Both Ivon Archer and Aurella Wellward held that any noble who couldnot perform at least the basic tasks of cooking, sewing, and the like wasdependent on her servants and so would become a slave to them.Therefore,Elise, had no difficulty tending to her own needs.Her father s valet had left a kettle to one side of the cook fire so there waswarm water for washing.Elise set another above the coals to heat water fortea, then stoked the fire until a cheerful blaze crackled beneath.Once again,the late-summer day promised to become quite hot.The air here near theriver was already thick and humid.It didn t promise well for tempers whenthe conferences began.Gowning herself in a light muslin dress with long sleeves of the samematerial that should help protect her skin from insect bites, Elise wished thatthere were a way for her to attend those conferences.Rumor and report wereno substitutes for actually seeing the expressions on people s faces or hearingtheir intonations as they spoke.Doubtless she was not the only one who felt that way and doubtless KingTedric would refuse anyone he could in order to be able to refuse those hegenuinely did not wish to attend.She supposed this must be an advantage ofmonarchy over the odd, oligarchical system used in Stonehold or theplutocracy of Waterland.Right now, however, she would give much forsomething like New Kelvin s parliamentary monarchy, where the reigning monarch always a king, an odd concept must answer to someone otherthan himself.When Ninette awakened, Elise had porridge and tea ready.Over the otherwoman s protests, she insisted on waiting on her.By the time Ninette hadfinished eating and dressing, there was color in her cheeks and the tendencyto blanch whenever she heard one of the Shields voices, carrying over fromtheir not too distant pitch, had vanished. Last night, Ninette admitted, sweetening her tea with pale gold cloverhoney, I couldn t stay here alone.The baron s man had gone to play at dicewith some other retainers, you see.Usually, I d find some of the other lady smaids, but I couldn t bear the company of that creaky-voiced old crone whoattends on Lady Melina.She s always hinting about her mistress s powers,especially to us younger ones when she thinks we re getting aboveourselves. Elise, who had been terrorized by the same old woman when she was achild, nodded sympathetically.She knew that it would make no difference tothat one that Ninette was well-born, her only fault that she was the daughterof a younger son with a tendency to gamble.Encouraged by Elise s sympathetic murmurs, Ninette continued, I wentover to Earl Kestrel s camp.I hope you don t think it improper of me, giventhat they are all men, but the earl s valet is very polite even courtly andDerian Carter may be brash, but he never oversteps himself. Were they the only ones there? Elise asked. Yes.Ox had gone with Earl Kestrel, as you recall.He couldn t attend thereception, of course, but he waited with the horses.The other man, thescout& Race. That s right Race Forester wasn t there.I think he spends much of histime with his fellow scouts.He may even have been on duty. Doesn t Sir Jared have a manservant? Not that I have seen, my lady.I don t think that, for all his honors, he isvery wealthy. No, Elise agreed. That is probably true.He mentioned that his familygrew grapes somewhere in Kestrel lands.That s hardly the basis of afortune. Then you don t mind that I went out? I think it was the smartest thing you could have done, Elise assured her. The question is, what should we do next? Next? Yes. Elise thought for a time, sipping her tea.She had decided not to tell Ninette about the curious pain she had feltwhen she had impulsively tried to tell Firekeeper and Derian about what shehad witnessed.The woman was terrified enough without wondering if she herself was cursed.Touching the carved piece of jet that hung around her neck, Elisewondered if she might have been particularly susceptible because of her link however slight to Jet.What if they had become lovers as he had pressed?Would taking his body into hers have increased the power his mother mighthold over her?She shuddered, feeling again that curious mixture of guilt and relief whenshe realized that Melina s curse served, evil as it was, to protect her fromJet s advances.Last night had been the first he had not tried to convince herto go for a walk in the woods or to duck into his tent.Either the curse haddulled his desires as well as his ability to act on them or he had feared thatshe would notice the difference in how his body expressed its ardor.She felt a stranger to herself as she realized again how much had changedin her feelings toward Jet.At first she had only kept him at a distance out ofa sense of propriety and she honestly admitted to herself a desire to testhis devotion before surrendering [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]