Читать книгу Child of the Phoenix - Barbara Erskine - Страница 91

The snow started in earnest that night: soft, thick, silent snow, whirling in from the north, smothering mountains and valleys alike in deep feathery drifts which, as the grey dawn came, turned from shadow-white to grey and then to blue. The water of the river slowed to a sluggish crawl, held back by icicles and frost-hard tree roots, and in the stables the water in the horses’ buckets was solid ice.

‘I thought I’d find you here,’ Rhonwen said quietly. Her breath was a cloud in the clean air. The horses too breathed dragon plumes in the silence. ‘What happened to Invictus?’

Eleyne sighed. ‘I left him at Chester. It would have been wrong to bring him back here. Lord Huntingdon will take care of him. He’s a valuable horse.’ The words sounded as though she had been trying to persuade herself. ‘How is Isabella?’ She hadn’t turned from the door on which she was leaning, watched from a distance by her father’s grooms.

‘She’ll live to bear more children, never fear.’ Rhonwen pursed her lips. ‘She’s strong, that one.’

Eleyne shook her head: ‘There will be no more children, not for Isabella.’

Rhonwen closed her eyes. ‘So. Then that is the will of the gods. You saw that in the fire, cariad?’

Eleyne shrugged. ‘No, there are some things I just know.’

‘And what do you see for yourself, girl? Or is it just for others you have the Sight?’

Eleyne rested her chin on her folded arms. ‘I have never seen anything for myself. Perhaps there is no future for me.’

‘You mustn’t talk like that.’

‘I’m sorry. I am not very cheerful today.’ Straightening, Eleyne looked at her directly and Rhonwen frowned, sensing yet again the new determination there, strengthened by the prince’s lingering coldness. ‘Where is Einion?’

‘There was some scandal. The prince heard it and suggested Einion leave his court for a while. If you want to see him I’m sure I can find him –’ Rhonwen looked doubtfully at the whirling whiteness in the courtyard.

‘No!’ Eleyne’s voice was sharp. ‘I don’t want to see him!’ She turned her back on the horses and pulled her cloak hood over her veil. ‘Come. I want to speak to Isabella.’