"Katherine Kurtz - Camber 3 - Camber the Heretic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

maybe precious few Deryni! I can't hold back my other nobles forever, you
know. And my sonsтАФ"
As his voice broke off, he turned his face away from both men. After a
second's pause, Joram caught Camber's eye to ask whether he should
withdraw and, at Camber's nod of permission, gave a brief bow over the cloak he
held across his arm.
"I'll leave you now, Sire, if you have no other need for me. I really should see
to the comfort of the monks who , came back with us from Dolban."
"No, stayтАФplease. What I have to say concerns you more than Alister, in all
truth. Except that I know that you will do as I ask. I do not know whether
Alister will."
 Surprised, Joram glanced at Camber and got a quick mental image of total
mystification. Cinhil had buried his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes wearily,
and as Camber shifted uneasily on his stool, trying to imagine what Cinhil
might ask that he would not do, Joram shrugged out of his own wet cloak and
laid it and his father's in a damp heap to one side. Cinhil lifted his head and
stared for so long at the crucifix on the wall behind the altar that Camber and
Joram both began to get a little anxious.
"Sire, is anything wrong?" Camber finally whispered.
Cinhil, with a light shake of his head, reached out to touch Camber's arm
lightly in reassurance.
"Nay, do not 'Sire' me, old friend. That of which we must speak has nought
to do with kings and bishops and such." He turned his attention to Joram.
"Joram, it has been near fourteen years since last we spoke of this, but the
time has come when I must break my silence. I have thought long on it, and
confess I have harbored many bitter thoughts toward youтАФand toward your
father."
He faltered a little at that, his eyes flicking momentarily into some
unseeable realm where the ache of memory and disappointment still aged and
festered, then returned his gaze to Joram.
"But, that is past. And though I fathom the reasons that he did what he did,
and hate those reasons to this day, still, I cannot deny that the end
wasтАФdesirableтАФ for Gwynedd."
Camber, sitting quietly on his stool, could sense his son's tension as the
younger man slowly moved closer to stand behind him. He felt Joram's hand
brush his shoulder where Cinhil could not see it, as Joram gazed down
guardedly at the king.
"Sire, you know that it was ever our intention to guard and protect this
landтАФand its king. And I hope I need not tell you that we never meant you any
enmity."
"I know that, Joram. If I believed otherwise, neither you nor any other who
had aught to do with what happened would be alive today. IтАФfear that I have
learned, over the years, how to be a ruthless king as well as a compassionate
one. None can say that my enemies have prospered in these years of change."
Camber glanced at his feet, knowing it was useless to bring up the hidden,
more insidious enemies which Cinhil had not subduedтАФthe men who even now
plotted at the heart of the future power of Gwynedd, who had the charge of
Cinhil's heirs and would be their regents until the eldest came of age.
He could feel Cinhil's gaze upon him, and knew by the other's sigh that
Cinhil had guessed what he was thinking, though the king did not try to reach