Shadows Return читать онлайн

, to Seregil’s forehead. Summer’s heat was lingering into early autumn this year. His thin linen shirt was soaked through and rank under the arms. The swath of black silk across his lower face was sticking to his lips. He just wanted to go home to a bath and clean cool sheets…Yet there was still no sign of Alec.“Hey! Where are you?” he called softly. He was about to risk calling out again when he heard a muttered curse from the shadow of a pear tree near the house.“I dropped it,” Alec hissed, still out of sight.“Oh, please tell me you’re joking!” Seregil whispered back.“Shh! They’ll hear you.”The telltale scrape of iron against stone came from the nearby kitchen as some early-rising servant stirred up banked coals on a hearth.Seregil climbed down the lime tree they’d used for a ladder, with every intention of collaring Alec and dragging him away-by force if need be.The younger man’s dark clothing made him all but invisible in the shadows, except for his blond braid. He’d pulled off his head scarf somewhere along the way and his hair gleamed tellingly over one shoulder as he scrabbled about on hands and knees, searching frantically in the grass.“Leave it!”Stubborn as always, Alec crawled back toward the house instead, frantically brushing his hands over the clipped turf. Seregil was reaching for Alec’s braid when the sound of a door opening sent them both flat on their bellies. Neither breathed as a young servant trudged by with reeking pails of night soil, passing within a few feet of where they lay.As soon as he was gone, Alec was on his feet, pulling Seregil up. “Found it! Come on.”“Now you’re in a hurry?”They ran for the tree. Seregil, the better climber, laced his fingers together and gave Alec a one-footed boost up