Liraz személy
Idézetek
“I like it. You, I mean.” And then she put her hand right back over her mouth and reddened, and was about ready to call on that fell chimaera goddess of assassins to come and put her out of her misery when the flicker of uncertainty vanished from Ziri’s brown eyes.
What his smile did then should have irritated her, because it splayed crooked in amusement—at her expense, at her extreme discomposure, and Liraz had never been able to bear teasing—but it didn’t stop there. It kept going, his smile, from amused to purely pleased to deeply relieved. It was so lovely that she felt it in her heart.
“Good,” he said. “I like you, too.”
And she blushed deeper, but he was blushing, too, now, so it wasn’t so bad.
“I brought you a present.”
Liraz took the flower, looked at it, and then at Hazael, expressionless. And then she ate it. She chewed the flower and swallowed it.
“Hmm,” said Hazael. “Not the usual response.”
“Oh, do you give flowers often?”
“Yes,” he said. He probably did. Hazael had a way of enjoying life in spite of the many restrictions they lived under, being soldiers, and worse, being Misbegotten. “I hope it wasn’t poisonous,” he said lightly.
Liraz just shrugged. “There are worse ways to die.”
“But why is Liraz coming with us? Why not Akiva?” Zuzana asked. Again.
“You know why,” replied Karou. Also again.
“Yes, but I don’t care about any of those reasons. I only care that I’ll have to spend time with her. She looks at me like she’s planning to yank my soul out through my ear.”
“Liraz couldn’t yank your soul out, silly,” said Karou, to assuage her friend’s fear. “Your brain, maybe, but not your soul.”
“Oh, well then.”
They watched the stormhunter come, and it was very near before Ziri realized that the figure flying along with it was not its only company. There were figures riding it. He hadn’t noticed them before because, not being seraphim, they didn’t give off light.
“Is that—?” he began, dumbfounded.
“I think it is,” breathed Liraz.
It was. And, catching sight of Liraz and Ziri, they gave sharp cries in their strange human language. Ziri could, of course, not understand what they said, but the note of victory was plain, as was the pure, delirious joy.
And who could blame them for it? Mik and Zuzana had tamed a stormhunter. They were going to be legends.
– Ajándékot hoztam neked.
Liraz elvette a virágot, rápillantott, aztán Hazaelre, kifejezéstelen arccal. Megette a virágot. Megrágta és lenyelte.
– Hmm – mondta Hazael. – Nem szokásos reagálás.
– Olyan gyakran adsz virágot?
– Igen – felelte Hazael. Valószínűleg így is volt. Hazael a maga módján élvezte az életet, a sokféle korlátozás ellenére is, mely őket mint harcosokat kötötte. – Remélem, nem volt mérgező – mondta könnyedén.
119. oldal
The clossnes, the quite. She couldn't imagine it. Breathing someone else's breath as they breathed yours, touching someone, opening for them? The vulnerability of it made her flush. It would mean submission, letting down her guard, and she wouldn't. Ever.
285. oldal