[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

quick gesture from the queen, and the three girls followed them; a nod, and
the warriors were gone. The door sighed shut, leaving Blade and the queen of
the Tower of the Serpent alone in the chamber.
Blade felt a tension and an arousal that was not entirely erotic, although he
strongly suspected what the queen had in mind. Being alone with this woman was
a little like being alone with a tame but hungry leopard. He couldn't be sure
when the hunger might suddenly overpower the tameness.
"Well, my new warrior of the First Rank. I, Mir-Kasa, greet you."
Blade was not sure whether he should rise naked from the bath, so he contrived
to bow sitting half-submerged in the cooling water. The queen laughed. Now
that she was no longer trying to intimidate and terrorize, her voice was a
rich throaty contralto.
"Do not stand or sit upon ceremony with me here ah?"
"Blade-Liza, Your Splendor."
"Nor call me by my title, either," she added. "I spit upon ceremony whenever I
can. And I would spit upon the ceremonious if I could. But even I am not my
own mistress yet. I am told that you come from a land said to lie in the
Beyond, Blade-Liza. Is that so?"
"It is."
"The reports that came to me said so. But some of the warriors who follow the
Serpent see marvels in anything that is not in the War Wisdom. The more fools
Page 36
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
they. Do you have such notions among your people, the English, is that it?"
"I am indeed of the English, and we do have some of that kind of person among
us, although we have no War Wisdom quite like yours." Fortunately, Blade added
to himself. We have enough trouble fighting wars as it is.
The queen's eyes widened. "No War Wisdom. Then how do you fight your wars?"
Blade started to explain, but the queen held up a hand to command silence.
Then her lips curled
again, in what Blade could only describe as a lustful grin. He no longer had
any doubt as to what she planned to do with their privacy.
"Blade-Liza, I would like to have you by me, as Queen's Steward. That is a
post that must be held by a warrior of the First Rank, with  certain other
qualities besides. For the moment it is held by a lout named Nris-Pol ah, I
see you know him. But he wearies me. He is beginning to lose his other
qualities. And he was never blessed with very many brains to begin with. So I
think I will find out if you are fit to take his place. And then " She paused
for so long that Blade was driven to prompting her.
"And then?"
The queen lowered her voice, as if afraid of being overheard. "And
then if you have qualities between your ears as well as between your legs,
we can move on to other matters.
You can move on to other matters, such as no man in Melnon has ever touched
before."
Mir-Kasa's words were ambiguous, but to Blade's trained ear her tone was not.
She had dreams of absolute rule; and of Blade as her consort in that rule. Why
would she consider an outsider for such a position? But then who else but an
outsider? He would have no loyalty to the War Wisdom, the Peace
Wisdom, the system of High and Low People, or any of the other stifling
traditions of the Towers of
Melnon. He would be a new broom that she could use to make a clean sweep of
all her enemies. Well and good, but not what he would have done by choice.
However, when one can only choose between riding the tiger or being eaten by
it&
Blade nodded, letting his eyes show the rest of what he wanted to say.
Mir-Kasa's grin broadened until Blade thought it was going to meet at the back
of her head. Then she threw back her head, snatched the tiara off, and dropped
it on the rug. Her long dark hair flowed unconfined down her back. It was a
very fine back, Blade noticed as straight and supple as a young girl's. He
returned her grin with one of his own.
It was as if the grin had injected her with an aphrodisiac. Her lower lip
trembled, and her even white teeth clamped down on it. Her nostrils flared,
and Blade saw her breasts heave as she took a deep breath. Then she motioned
to him, sharply, almost as if she were angry.
"Come out of that water. No, do not bother to dry yourself off. I want you wet
against me, wet. And
I want to see how you treat a woman. A woman, Blade, a woman. Not a queen. For
now and for all these moments between us forever I am not a queen but a woman
with a man. Is that clear?"
If Mir-Kasa's words had not been clear, the look on her face would certainly
have been so. To judge from the hunger Blade could see there, the
about-to-become-ex-Steward Nris-Pol could have been a eunuch. He doubted
whether that was really the case. It was more likely that Her Splendor
Mir-Kasa, Queen of the Tower of the Serpent, had rather extensive appetites.
He climbed out of the bath and strode dripping and naked across the carpet,
leaving a damp trail behind him. For a moment his eyes fell on the girl's
body. If Mir-Kasa was going to insist on making love with that gruesome
reminder of the way of life in the towers lying on the rug only feet away &
She was. Blade shrugged mentally as she came toward him, eyes half-closed,
mouth open. He had made love under less agreeable circumstances, and to far
Page 37
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
less attractive women. Mir-Kasa's age might be showing in her hair, but Blade
could not see it showing anywhere else. The high full breasts thrust out the
material of the tunic in solid, firm, unsagging shapes, and the skin of her
neck showed only the faintest lining and wrinkling.
Then she was in his arms, her lips clinging hot and wet to his, and Blade knew
that both the maturity and the madness in this woman extended deep into her.
All by itself, the kiss was an almost frighteningly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

razem.keep.pl