The Mist and the Lightning. Part 16 - стр. 12
Kors dismounted near one of the houses and climbed the porch. Here he once stood and smoked before the beginning of a meeting of commanders. And Nikto that evening first opened his face in front of people, having arrived without a mask. He was so handsome. “Kors, don't smoke. Everything will be fine,” Nikto told him. “Yes. Sly Demon, you got me through. You winded round my little finger like I was a naive child”. Kors went into the room, there was still a table, and on it lay a crumpled dusty tablecloth. He sat down in his place, just as he sat then, during the meeting. He just sat blankly, as if hearing the voices of his officers. Nothing could be returned. He couldn’t go back to that moment and do everything differently, replay, stay free. How good it was for him then, but he realized that only now. He didn’t value it then. He didn’t appreciate freedom, because it was a natural state for him, a familiar sensation, like the air you breathe and you don’t notice it until your throat is squeezed. And how thoughtlessly he gave the most valuable thing, only later realizing what it was like to breathe with permission, breathe because you were graciously allowed to do so, and to be not a person, but a thing. “Arrogant fool!” Blinded by his pride and sense of power, which turned out to be only an illusion! His whole life collapsed overnight. He understood that the beginning of this fall began long before Riverside, but here, as it seemed to him, it took final shape. At what point did he make this fatal turn in the wrong direction?
“I don’t understand why you are protecting this boy like that? Son of the Devil, here's your time! I must confess that I didn’t think he looked so much like a girl!”
“What?!”
“The Son of the Devil is a pretty blonde with blue eyes. I have never seen white male half-bloods live, only female slaves. But it turns out that they are all the same! And guys are like girls, they are the same.”
“Crassus, I will kill you!”
“Vitor, stop it! I need to tell you something urgently. Very important, confidently. Let's go freshen up… I need fresh air, it's stuffy here. Vitor! Calm down, what are you doing?! Don’t be silly! What's the matter with you?!”
“What's happening? You are crazy?! What are you doing?!”
“Nothing! Everything is fine!”
“You started smoking again! You don't come to sit with us in the evening. I saw his unclean horse at your camping tent, he stood there until morning. Kors, I have known you for a long time, I know your preferences. This white half-blood is very similar to Iness, I paid attention to this today. Do you see familiar features in him? Yes? Are you crushing on him?”
“What?!”
“And judging by the looks he throws at you, he also reciprocates you, however, it just doesn’t surprise me, but you?! Vitor, what are you doing?”
“What looks does he throw at me? What are you making up, Varah?”
“Don’t show your relationship so clearly. Don’t stand up for him so openly! Do you have love with him?”
“I don’t blame you,” Kamiel tried to cheer him up somehow. “The boy is really cute, nice features, though not tall and march.”
“What?! Gods!”
“Do what you want with him, but in secret. Please, not so openly! Don’t embarrass yourself! Vitor, you ruined your reputation in the city. I don’t believe in all these stories of naive commoners from Lower. The Son of the Devil, who opened a portal to the catacombs of the prison dungeon. This is all bullshit! You helped him escape! You lost his position because of him, came to him here! You help him! Vitor, what are you doing, are you crazy?”