M'Lady Witch

Начало книги

"My son," said the King, "thy mother and I have decided that 'tis time thou wert wed."

"As thou dost wish, my father and sovereign."  Alain bowed.  "I shall inform the lady straightaway."

And he turned and strode out of the solar, leaving his parents gaping after him.

Wooden-faced, the sentry closed the door behind the Prince.  The sound jarred King Tuan and Queen Catharine out of their shock.

"Who can he mean?"  he asked, round-eyed.

"Who but Gwendylon's daughter?"  It was characteristic of Catharine that she didn't mention Rod Gallowglass, Cordelia's father.

"The High Warlock's daughter!"  Tuan had the opposite problem.  "He must be stopped!"  He rose from his chair.  But Catharine restrained him with a hand on his arm.  "Let him be, husband.  If he doth as I think he will do, he may learn a most signal lesson."

Much as she loved her son, Catharine knew him to be something of a conceited prig.  Admittedly, the realization had only dawned on her this last year, when the boy had turned twenty-one and she had finally begun to think of him as a swain going a-wooing.  Looking at him in that light, she had begun to realize that her son had some serious romantic defects.  They all began with attitude, of course—but if she knew Cordelia, her son might soon have that attitude corrected.

Читать дальше →