Raven's Soul. Volume 2 - стр. 18

– Would you like some tea? – I asked loudly, taking off my warm cloak and hanging it on the hook sticking out of the wall. – I can make some! I think I can handle this task, it's not…" I added as I entered the living room, but I was silenced by eight orange pairs of eyes, like Andrada's, staring back at me.

– Evans! – I hesitantly called out, and wanted to go to the artifact vault, to escape from the living room, not knowing if I was friends or enemies, but a second later the owner of the house appeared there with his hands bound with a magical chain and two big kids holding him under his arms.

– What a tidbit! – A handsome, velvety man's voice sounded behind me. – Such a beauty does not need the company of such a young man as this bastard. You, my beauty, are incredibly lucky: you will warm me with the warmth of your body, and in return you will receive favor and jewelry.

Such impudence in my address caused me a wave of indignation, and I turned sharply to the uninvited guests. My intuition told me that the scoundrel who dared to insult my honor was a handsome man with long purple hair dressed in a beautiful blue silk cloak. The fingers of his hands were adorned with numerous rings with sparkling stones, and a fancy gold necklace hung around his neck.

– You seem to have forgotten to ask, sir, whether the beauty wants to go to your bed! – I cast a disdainful glance at the impudent handsome man.

– Oh, my dear, I'm afraid you have no choice! – He laughed a deep, beautiful laugh, but then his face darkened. – Take her!

I was immediately grabbed under his arms and my wrists were bound with a magical chain. Although I frantically tried to break free from the steel vise, I was unable to get free. But, noticing that Evans had accepted his captivity completely coolly and calmly, I exclaimed unhappily:

– Evans! What's going on?

– Calm down, Sylvie, there's no need to make a scene," he answered me quietly.

"Sylvie? He's deliberately not saying my name in full, as if he's trying to hide my origins and identity from this overdressed blowhard!" – I realized, and obeyed my friend's advice.

– Release the girl: she has nothing to do with our feud," Evans said coldly to the purple-haired guest.

– So you know him! – A nervous chuckle escaped me.

– I told you, bastard, what would happen if you set foot on my kingdom's soil again," the insolent man said lazily, stretching out his words. – And your maiden will come with us. – He smiled predatorily. – Take them away!

Chapter 5

POV Derek

– We hadn't heard from them in a long time. Just one letter, and in it three words, "Everything is fine"… Don't they have any time at all to write more than those three words? For example, how is their health? What difficulties have they encountered? – I said tiredly to my mother when she came into my chambers to read the Bible to me.

Leaving my bed, in defiance of my mother's wailing, I paced from corner to corner of my huge royal bedchamber. I was terribly tired of hiding from everyone and not even going out into the corridor, the dining room or the garden. Yes, I'm poisoned, and my strength is failing me, but damn it, I'm still alive and I'm sure I'll last until my consort returns from her journey. Of course, if she comes back at all: her journey is dangerous, the herbs she needs are guarded by terrible monsters, and she's taken a court healer to help her fight them! Would he be able to save her from death?