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teeth. Though her eyes were blurred with tears of pain, she would not cry out. She laughed instead, harsh and shrill,
for the tension of the moment demanded some release; and drawing back her head, she spat into his face.
"Can this be fear I see?" Aurian taunted. "The great Archmage Miathan afraid of a lowly half-breed servant? Your
one mistake lay in underestimating Anvar which surprises me, since you fathered him yourself." She flung her
knowledge in Miathan's face, and watched him turn white.
"Liar!" he howled. "I know the extent of Anvar's powers! I possessed them myself long enough! What did you find on
your travels, to match the power of the Caldron?"
Aurian was cornered, driven to desperation by her need to protect the secret of the Staff of Earth. "Nothing!" she
shrieked. "Anvar needed nothing, save his hatred of you! And that's all you'll ever get from me, Archmage! Naught
save hatred, and undying contempt!"
Miathan seemed to shrink before her. Since he had lost his eyes, the subtleties of his expression had become difficult
to read, but the Mage was astonished to see his features drawn down in lines of anguish. "It hurts, you know," he said
softly. "You have no idea how much it hurts when you turn away from me and shudder at my touch'
The Mage was so staggered by his admission that she found her voice at last. "Good," she snapped. "Now you know
how it feels. You never cared how much you hurt me when you murdered Forral you don't care that you're hurting me
now, with what you've done to my friends and Anvar, and what you're threatening to do to my child. Did it never
occur to you that I would despise you for your foul deeds? Are you really so lost to all sanity?"
Aurian steeled herself, waiting for the storm of his wrath to break over her. It did not happen.
Sadly, Miathan shook his head. "You loved me once, when you were younger remember that. And notwithstanding
all that I have done, Aurian, I have never stopped loving you."
Aurian's mind was reeling, refusing to accept that in his own sick, twisted way, Miathan still loved her. Images flashed
through her mind of her youth, when the Archmage had been a father, her beloved mentor. Before Forral had returned,
and come between them. Was that when the good in Miathan had begun to wither? Or had the sickness started long
before? The Mage ached inside for those first, good years but that did not change her feelings now. The thought of
her child and the memory of Forral's dead face strangled any pity for Miathan. "And I have never stopped hating
you," she hissed. "Not since the day you murdered Forral. I'll loathe you until the day I die."
Miathan's expression hardened once more. "We'll see about that!" His hand came up to clench around her throat.
"Move a muscle, and I'll choke the lying breath from you," he hissed.
With a chilling certainty that lodged like a stone within her breast, Aurian knew she had pushed him too far.
With his free hand, Miathan grasped her loose robe at the neck and jerked it until it ripped apart. Twisting her arm in a
cruel grip, he yanked her away from the wall and flung her down on the thin pallet that served as her bed. Again, the
pain shot through her, worse this time, making her cry out. In that helpless moment, Miathan was upon her, kneeling
over her, one hand around her throat again, pinning her with all the strength of Harihn's fit and youthful body.
Aurian, choking, her heart hammering wildly, scrabbled frantically among the tangle of blankets beneath her. Her hand
closed around the long, cold shape of Schiannath's dagger and she struck at Miathan's throat but in that instant,
another spasm of pain disabled her, sending her arching and writhing beneath his hands.
The blow went wide the dagger grated on Miathan's collarbone, and drove into his shoulder. The Archmage
shrieked in agony, and his hand around her throat went limp, but Aurian was in no state to take advantage of his
disablement. Doubled over and gasping, she felt warm wetness flood the blankets beneath her.
Miathan sprang to his feet with a vile curse, wrenching the knife from his shoulder, and looked down on her with hard
and merciless eyes. "Now comes the moment at last," he grated. "Believe me, Aurian, payment is only put off and
not for long!" He rushed to the door, and flung it open to bellow down the stairs. "Woman get up here! The child is
coming!"
Yazour had never guessed that it would take so long to traverse the twisting mountain pass. Seething with impatience, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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