"Katherine Kurtz - Heirs 02 - King Javan's Year" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

their father had given them the earrings not long before his death.
Charlan glanced at both items, the ring and the earring, then slipped the signet over the end of his middle
finger for safekeeping and wrapped the earring in a handkerchief that he tucked into the pouch slung
below the white belt of his knighthood. The sleeveless leather jerkin over his full-sleeved linen shirt would
take him to Arx Fidei well enough, but he was barelegged and sandaled like many of the men who had
been lounging in the breezeway and now drifted closer to see what was amiss.
тАЬI shall be away as quickly as I may, your Highness,тАЩ Charlan said, joining his hands palm to palm and
extending them to the prince, dropping to one knee as he did so. тАЬI give you my renewed pledge, as I
gave it at my knighting, that I am the king┬┤s loyal man.тАЩ
He bowed his head as Rhys Michael took the hands between his in the time-hallowed gesture of fealty
accepted.
тАЬNot on my own behalf, but in the name of the king who is and the king who shall be, I bid you go, Sir
Charlan,тАЩ the prince whispered.тАЩ тАЬJavan shall be king next-not me. Go to him now- quickly. Please!тАЩ
As Charlan rose and turned away, already summoning those men to his side who would ride with him to
Arx. Fidei, Rhys Michael watched him go. He had asserted himself as a prince and as a man, as was his
right and duty, but he felt like an errant schoolboy just the same. He wondered if Archbishop Hubert
would have him whipped-and what he would do, if Hubert tried it. The archbishop once had had Javan
whipped for disobedience-but Rhys Michael was not and never had been under obedience to Hubert the
way Javan had been. He didn┬┤t think Hubert would dare.
Still, he did not relish the next few hours, or facing the men in the room between him and his dying
brother.

Chapter Two

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
-Revelations 3:11


Three hours┬┤ ride from Rhemuth, the cloister garden attached to the seminary at Arx Fidei Abbey was
still and silent-no less stifling than at the capital, but the Haldane prince who sought its refuge in the
stillness of the summer night at least had fewer immediate concerns than his two brothers. Following
Matins, the Great Office of the night, after which every soul under the discipline of the abbey fell under
the Great Silence until after Morning Prayer, Javan had passed quietly through the processional door and
into the cloister garth rather than returning to his cell via the night stair.
Now he settled quickly on the granite curbing around the carp pool-to meditate, should anyone inquire. It
was one of the few indulgences he had gained in his two years here: permission to enjoy the gardens in
solitude while the rest of the abbey slept. It had caused its own stir among the abbey┬┤s hierarchy, for the
abbot, a strict Custodes Fidei priest named Father Halex, did not approve of any divergence from the
strict discipline and regimentation expected of his seminarians.
Fortunately, Javan was no ordinary seminarian. Even though also a clerk in minor orders, he was also a
prince. Royal blood could demand some privileges. Yet even this concession had taken the intervention
of the archbishop, and then only after several months of exemplary behavior at Arx Fidei and as a
grudging recognition of Javan┬┤s having come of age and being, therefore, free to leave altogether, if he
insisted.
Though what a fourteen-year-old heir presumptive might have done better with his time for the next few
years, even Javan had to agree was a moot point. Far better to spend those years between legal and
actual manhood as he was doing, acquiring the formal education that would stand him in good stead if he
eventually became king, as seemed more and more likely-so long as the lords of state did not manage
some trick to bypass him and give the crown to his younger brother, now of age, as well, but who was
thought to be less clever and more biddable.