[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

remembered standing in front of her like an automaton, nakedly spewing forth
his inmost, most secret self under the influence of Nepos'
cordial. He stabbed at a chunk of lamb with needless violence.
Sensitive to his swing in mood, Alypia put her goblet down; she had drunk much
less than he. She could be direct as well as artful and asked it straight:
"What's amiss?"
"What are you doing here with me?" Marcus exclaimed. He stopped in dismay,
mouth hanging foolishly open.
"I could ask the same of you," Alypia replied with some heat. But her
annoyance was not for his candor, for she went on, "When you sheered off from
my servant oh yes, he saw you I thought you were angry at me, as you have a
right to be. Yet here you sit, peaceably enough. Explain yourself, if you
would."
"Angry at you? No, never. I owe you a debt I cannot hope to repay, for finding
a way to make your uncle believe me loyal. But " The tribune fell silent.
Alypia waited him out. At last he had to continue. "How could I have anything
to do with you, when I blight everything I put my hand to?"
The furious stare she gave him said she was of the Gavras clan after all. "1
did not think you would belittle yourself. Who saved my headstrong uncle from
Onomagoulos' assassins? Who warned him of Drax, though he would not listen?
And who beatDrax in the end? Unless I'm much mistaken, the
finger points at you."
"And who let all his prisoners get free, for being, for being " He had to take
a long swallow of wine before he could get it out. " for being too blind to
see his woman was using him as a carter uses a mule? That finger points at me,
too, from my own hand."
"There's no denying your Helvis had a hard knot to untie, but I thought better
of her." Alypia kept her voice judicious, but her nostrils flared in
indignation as she spoke Helvis' name. "But to do as she did, taking advantage
of your love for a weapon against you " She made a gesture of repugnance. "I
wish I had not heard that. No wonder you blame me for urging Thorisin to try
Nepos' potion."
"Blame you?" Scaurus said, echoing her again. "I just told you I did not; you
were doing what you could to help me and in fact you did. How can there be
blame for that? But," he paused to gather
his thoughts, "it's hard to meet you, to know what to say, to know how to act,
after baring myself before you."
The touch of her fingers was gentle on his. She slowly dipped her head; her
eyes were lowered to the tabletop as she reminded him, "Marcus, you have also
seen me naked." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper.
The tribune remembered her, calm with Vardanes Sphrantzes' dagger against her
throat, her slim body revealed by the transparent silks that were the only
garments the elder Sphrantzes allowed her after taking her as plaything from
Ortaias. His hand closed tightly around hers. "That was no fault of yours; the
crime was Vardanes'."
"Well, did Drax and his comrades escape by your will, then?" Alypia demanded,
looking up at him.
Page 233
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"We both know the answer to that." She did not seek a reply. Her eyes were far
away; she was remembering, too. "Strange," she mused, "that I should thank
Avshar in his wickedness for delivering me from my tormentor."
"He gave short measure, as he always does," Marcus said. "Vardanes earned
worse than the quick end he got."
She shuddered, still looking backward, but then tried to smile. "Let it lay.
I'm sorry I spoke of it."
Her hand stayed in his; he touched the writer's callus on her middle finger.
He was afraid to say anything. He wondered if he was seeing only what he
wished to see, as he had with Nevrat.
When Safav came by, he smiled to himself. Marcus hardly noticed the waiter as
he set the spiced quinces on the table and slipped away. In spite of his
tension, memory held him again, of Alypia in his embrace, of her lips warm on
his for a few seconds, until she took fright and pulled away. Had that only
been this past spring?
"So much between," she murmured, seeming to read his thoughts as she did so
often. She was silent again for some time, then drew in a long breath, as if
in decision. She said, "As well nothing came of that, don't you think? I was
unready to, to..." It was her turn to come to an awkward halt. Marcus nodded
to show he understood; her eyes thanked him. She went on, "And in any case you
had commitments you could not have should not have set aside."
"Should I not?" he said bitterly.
By luck, she paid him no attention; she was arguing with herself as much as
talking to him. Her face set with resolve a warrior might have envied, she [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]