ketamin05: переводы

→Of course, the Forces were nothing like this.

→Later that night as Schuyler dreamed, she received a message from Lawrence. The sending was easier in the dream state, he explained. It was not as shocking to the senses, and asleep her mind held no distractions. "Corcovado secure. All is well."

→"To us!" Mimi crowed, clinking her glass against Jack's. The crystal rang like a deep booming bell.

→Yes, Schuyler thought. Lots and lots of time. Possibly forever.

→Mimi reached out to hold her brother's hand in hers.

→"So, Jack and I have an announcement," Mimi said, when the dessert course arrived, a flaming peaches jubilee. "We've decided on the date of our bonding."

→Meals at home were served in the formal dining room, on a table so large and intimidating, each person was seated a good two feet away from the other. Each entree was served by a butler on a silver tray, and the menu never varied—it was always French, it was always rich and complicated, and it was always perfectly delicious. Yet Schuyler missed Hattie's no-nonsense slapdash cooking, and longed for simple, unpretentious servings of macaroni-and-cheese or a pot roast that didn't require a red-wine reduction and an accent to pronounce.

→Schuyler and Jack weren't alone again that evening. The entire family gathered for their mandatory dinner a few hours later. Once a week, Trinity Burden, their mother, required that the children be home to join their parents for dinner. Schuyler had once dreamed of a nuclear family, of a life that included a loving mother, an attentive father, and siblings who would tease each other over the meat and potatoes.

→"But Mimi…" Just as Schuyler said her name, she sensed a presence at the front doorway. Mimi was home, or just about to be. Quicker than a blink, or at maximum vampire speed, Schuyler left the living room and ran to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

→"I don't want to talk about the bond," Jack said, cutting her off and withdrawing his arm. His face turned cold, and for a moment she saw a flash of his true nature, saw the dark angel that he was. The angel who had wrought destruction in Paradise, the one who would sound the trumpet to the Apocalypse when it came. His was the face of Abbadon, the enforcer, the hammer blow, the most dangerous soldier in the army of the Almighty.

→"Shoot," Jack said, stretching his legs out in front of him and loping his long arm over the edge of the chair so that his fingers rested lightly on her shoulders. She tingled at his slightest touch.

→"Is it true that the bond between you and—"

→Schuyler sat next to him on a gilded velvet "kissing chair" dating to the sixteenth-century and so named because a couple had to sit side-by-side and facing each other. "Jack." She looked at his face. The face she loved so much. "I want to ask you something."

→"Is she here?" Schuyler asked, looking around the opulent space that was the Forces' living room. Decorated in lush, French-Victorian style, the room was closely packed with rare antiques, jaw-droppingly familiar museum-quality art, and sumptuous fabrics. Her senses told her that Mimi was not around the premises. But who knew.

→"I made the bus this time," she said, setting her school things down on a nearby table. She still didn't feel comfortable in their house, but on the other hand, she was tired of tiptoeing around the place as if she didn't belong there.

→All week she had forced thoughts of Mimi's warning from her mind. Was Mimi telling the truth? Was she putting Jack in danger? She had wanted to ask Lawrence about it, but she had been too ashamed. What had her grandfather told her? You must have noticed he is drawn to you. Thank goodness you are not drawn to him. It would spell disaster to both of you.

→How could she tell her grandfather that he was wrong. That she did return Jack Force's affections. That she was weak and pathetic when Lawrence believed she was so strong. She could not. She told herself she couldn't bother him with such a silly thing as her love life anyway, while he was out there dealing with a problem as grave and serious as the possible destruction of the very essence of the Blue Bloods' existence. She was starting to worry about Lawrence. There hadn't been a message from him in days.

→They made plans to go visit Dylan in a few days, and Schuyler said good-bye at Eighty-sixth to catch the Fifth Avenue bus.

→Bliss sighed. "Yeah."

→Schuyler didn't want to give Bliss any false hope, but she thought it would be cruel to say otherwise. "I'm sure they'll try their best."