"Katherine Kurtz - Childe Morgan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

Chapter 24

Chapter 25
Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Appendix I

Appendix II



Prologue
тАЬA woman that had for a long time mourned the deadтАжтАЭ

тАФII SAMUEL 14:2

Christmas Eve, 1093

T HE fair-haired woman who paused in the doorway to the royal crypt was the Lady Alyce, Deryni
heiress to the Duchy of Corwyn and now the wife of Sir Kenneth Morgan, and mother of his son. Fondly
she watched as the black-cloaked Queen of Gwynedd touched a wax spill to the torch set in a cresset on
a side wall, then used the spill to light a votive candle shielded in red glass.

The child sleeping beneath the stone lid of the sepulcher on which she placed the votive light had been
gone more than a year now, but Alyce knew that a day never passed when Richeldis of Gwynedd did
not remember this, the second-born of her four sons, and mourn his loss. Blaine Emanuel Haldane had
been only nine when he passed into the care of GodтАЩs holy angels.

Nor did it much matter now just how or why Prince Blaine had met his premature death, though his
bravery had saved his younger sister from drowning. Gallant though his action had been, the chill he took
that day had been the death of him hardly a week later, wheezing for breath and finally succumbing to the
illness that gradually filled his lungs with fluid and finally choked out his life. Though the royal physicians
had done their best to save him, the boyтАЩs condition had been beyond their skill, either to cure him or
even much to ease his suffering. Only recently had his mother begun to smile again, and to emerge from
the profound depression she had suffered following the young princeтАЩs death.

Breathing a heavy sigh, the queen sank to her knees to pray, head bowing over her hands, which were
folded on BlaineтАЩs tomb. Alyce knelt as well, quietly reaching behind her to pull a basket of greenery
closer. Earlier, she and another of the queenтАЩs ladies had helped gather cuttings of what sparse winter
foliage the royal gardens had to offer, floral tributes intended not just for Prince Blaine but for several
other notables buried here in the royal crypt, sleeping with Haldane princes and princesses.

тАЬPlease bring the basket, Alyce,тАЭ the queen said suddenly, getting to her feet and turning.

Rising wordlessly, Alyce brought the basket closer so that Richeldis could select a single white camellia
blossom, which she kissed and then laid on her sonтАЩs tomb beside the votive candle. She then added a