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who'd kill him if he made one wrong move.
"Why, if I didn't know better," she chirped, "I'd think
you were trying to avoid being alone with me." Cariotta
giggled girlishly. "That's not true, now, is it?"
"Uh... no- Of course not." Yes, dear Powers, yes! How
am Igoing to get out of this alwe?
Not by letting Cariotta think there was something
wrong with her beguilement spells, that was sure! But
what else could he do? There wasn't much time to
waste, yet his thoughts seemed to be racing around and
around his mind like so many terrified wild things. The
only thing Kevin could decide to do was play the befud-
died bumpkin. Ha, that shouldn't be so difficult! Right
now it was going to be far easier to fake stupidity and
bedazzlement than to say or do anything clever!
Aren't there any servants around? Anyone who might suggest
that the niece of a count shouldn't bealone with ayoungman?
No, of course not That would be far too simple. The
casde corridors were as empty as though there wasn't
anyone else alive in the whole place. Besides, Kevin
thought wearily, all the servants were probably under
Cariotta's control, anyhow.
All too soon, they reached the library.
Kevin tried the handle. "The door seems to be
locked," he said, stalling desperately for time.
206 Mercedes Lackey &fJosephs Sherman
"No, it's not It's never locked. Here, let me see."
Carlotta tried the handle, which turned with
treacherous ease. She glanced sharply at Kevin, and
the bardling gave her a weak smile.
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"Must have been stuck."
**Well, it isn't stuck now. Come on."
But Kevin stopped short in the doorway, hunting
frantically for some other excuse.
"Ca-Charina." Gods, he'd almost called her by her
real name! "Charina, I... uh... I chink I'm getting a
headache. Maybe tomorrow really would be a better
rime to "
"Don't be siily\ The sooner we take care of the
manuscript  Oh, don't look at me with such horror,
Kevin! I meant to a scribe!" She smiled teasingly.
"What did you think 1 meant?"
"I...uh..."
"Anyhow, the sooner we get rid of the manuscript,
the sooner we can do what we want. Whatever we
want. Like this."
Without warning, Carlotta threw her arms around
his neck, her lips all at once temptingly dose to his.
Temptingly? the bardling thought in panic. Her body
pressed against his, the sweet scent other perfume filled
his nose. At any other time he would have done almost
anything to be embraced like this by a lovely young
woman, but now Powers, Fd be saferfussinga spider! Bvtif
1doa'tfass her, shellknow something'swrong....
Just before he forced himself to choose the lesser
peril, Charina pushed him away, giggling. "You
haven't got a headache. Or if you do, it will go away
now that we're out of the garden. It's just the result of
breathing in the smells of all those herbs." Her smile
was a marvel of fake innocence. "Some of them make
me sneeze every dme I go near them! If the cook didn't
need them for his recipes... Never mind. Let's find
that silly old manuscript and get out of here."
CASTLE OF DECEPTION
207
Oh please, Kevin told the manuscript, hide from me the
way you did before!
He couldn't pretend not to search, not with Carlotta
watching his every move. Oh no, even chough Kevin
realized she didn't really know what the manuscript
looked like, she certainly could tell what it didn't look
like; he couldn't try to fool her with the wrong tide. And
so the bardling did the only thing he could, and
examined each and every item in the library as slowly
and carefully as possible.
Delaying like this was a dangerous game. Kevin was
all too well aware that Carlotta's sweet expression hid
barely restrained impatience. If he pushed her too
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far...
An age passed, or so it seemed, while he searched the
library, then a second age, this one surely long enough
to wear away rock. But at last, to Kevin's despair, he
realized he had gone through every manuscript in the
library save one.
As though his hand had a life all its own, the bardling
watched with fascinated horror as it pulled the
manuscript from the shelf, feeling the strange, magical
tingling that told him what he held even before he read
the title:
The Study of Ancient Magic.
Of course. You pick a wonderful time to come out of hiding,
he told the manuscript with bitter sarcasm.
"Kevin!" Carlotta snapped, "What do you chink
you're doing? Why are you staring like that at an
empty shelf?"
"But it's not "
"Oh, stop clowning!" There was very little of the
innocent young girl in that sharp command. *'I don't
want to spend all day here. Get on with your search!"
Bewildered, Kevin turned to face her, the
manuscript in his hands.
Carlotta's eyes widened in shock. "You  you
208 Mercedes Lackey ^josepha Sherman
have it!" she gasped. In the next moment, the sorceress
had hersdfback under control. "Here, let me have it"
She hadn't been able to see the manuscript until he
took it off the shelfl Stunned by this new bit of magic,
the bardling couldn't find a thing to say except an
awkward, "Uh... sorry, Charina."
"Kevin? I'm not in the mood for games. Give it to me."
"I...uh...can't."
"Kevin! Give it to me!"
The bardling backed away towards the door, stam- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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