"Katherine Kurtz - Camber 1 - Camber Of Culdi" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

"Who am I?" he asked in a low voice.
Rhys raised a skeptical eyebrow and frowned. "Now, don't go senile on me,
after all these years. Even if you are a cantankerous old rascal, I'm very
fond of you."
Dan closed his eyes and smiled, then looked up at the ceiling again. "Rhys,
what ever happened to the Haldanes, after your Deryni Festil led the coup that
toppled the throne? Did you ever wonder?"
"Not really," Rhys replied. "I was taught that Ifor and all his family were
executed during the revolt."
"Not precisely true. There was one survivor, one of the younger princes-he was
only three or four at the time. He was smuggled out of the castle by a servant
and raised as the man's own bastard son. But he was never allowed to forget
his true parentage. His foster father hoped that one day he might overthrow
the House of Festil and restore human rule to Gwynedd-but of course, he never
did. Nor did the prince's son. That prince would be very old by now, if he
were alive."
"If he were . . ." Rhys started to repeat the old man's words, then trailed to
a halt, suddenly suspecting what the old man was going to say next.
Dan coughed and took a deep breath.
"Go ahead, ask. I know you won't believe me, but it's true. I was known as
Prince Aidan in those days; and in the normal order of things, I probably
would have been content to rule a distant barony or earldom in my royal
brother's name, for there were three before me for the throne. But with the
execution of all my kin, I became the sole Haldane heir." He paused. "I never
had the chance even to try to win back my throne. Nor did my son: he died too
young, and the time was not right. But my grandson-"
"Now, wait a minute, Dan." Rhys's brow was furrowed in disbelief. "You're
telling me that you're really Prince Aidan, the rightful Haldane heir, and
that your grandson is still alive?"
"His royal name is Cinhil-Prince Cinhil Donal Ifor Haldane," Dan murmured. "He
would be, oh, forty or so by now-I can't remember exactly. It's been over
twenty years since I last saw him. He entered a contemplative order, walled
away from the world. He is safe there, the knowledge of his true identity
locked deep in his earliest memories. I thought, at the time, that it was
better that way." His voice trailed off, and Rhys blinked at him in amazement,
his stomach doing queasy flip-flops.
"Why are you telling me this?" Rhys breathed, after nearly a full minute of
silence.
"I trust you."
"But, I- Dan, I'm Deryni, a member of the conquering race. You can't have
forgotten that. How long do you think your grandson would be permitted to
live, if anyone even suspected his existence? Besides, you yourself said that
it's been twenty years. He may be dead already."
Daniel tried to shrug, but the movement brought on a coughing fit which
wracked the frail old body. Rhys helped him to sit, trying to ease his
discomfort, then lowered him gently to the pillows when the spell had passed.
Daniel swallowed noisily, gestured with a veined, translucent hand.
"You may be right. Perhaps I am the last living Haldane, and have spent my
years of hoping for nought. If so, my telling you can do no harm. But if I am
not the last.. ."