Deryni Checkmate by Katherine Kurtz Read Free Book Online Page A

anyone.”
    “You’re of use to me ,” Kelson said quietly, gazing across at her with hurt gray eyes. “Please stay.”
    “I cannot,” Jehana whispered, choking back a sob.
    “If—if I commanded you as king,” Kelson quavered, the cords in his neck rippling as he fought back the tears, “would you stay then?”
    Jehana stiffened for an instant, her eyes clouding with pain, then turned away, her shoulders shaking. “Don’t make me answer that,” she managed to whisper. “Please don’t ask me.”
    Kelson started to move toward her, to try to entreat her further, but Nigel put his finger to his lips and shook his head. Motioning Kelson to follow, he had moved to the door and opened it quietly, waited as Kelson reluctantly joined him.
    But the steps of both had been slow and heavy as they left the room. And the quiet sobbing behind the closed door still lingered in Kelson’s mind...
     
    HE swallowed hard and studied the flames in the fireplace before him. “Do you think the archbishops will attack me, then?”
    “Perhaps not for a while,” Duncan said. “So far, they’ve chosen to ignore the fact that you’re Deryni, too. But they won’t ignore it if you defy an Interdict.”
    “I could destroy them!” Kelson murmured, fists clenching and eyes narrowing as he considered his powers.
    “But you won’t,” Duncan stated emphatically. “Because if you use your powers against the archbishops—whether or not they deserve it—that will be final proof to the rest of the Eleven Kingdoms that the Deryni do, indeed, intend to destroy Church and State and set up a new Deryni dictatorship. You must give the lie to that charge by avoiding a confrontation at all costs.”
    “Then, is it stalemate? Me against the Church?”
    “Not the Church, my prince.”
    “Very well, then. The men who control the Church. It’s the same thing, isn’t it?”
    “Not at all.” Duncan shook his head. “It isn’t the Church we fight, though it may seem that way at first glance. It’s an idea: the idea that different is evil. That because some men are born with extraordinary powers and talents, those men are evil, no matter to what purpose they put those powers.
    “We’re fighting the idiotic notion that a man is responsible for the accident of his birth. That because a few men made grave errors in the name of a race over three hundred years ago, the whole race is damned and must forever suffer the consequences, generation after generation.
    “ That is what we’re fighting, Kelson. Corrigan, Loris, even Wencit of Torenth—they’re merely pawns in the larger struggle to prove that a man is worth something for himself alone, for what he does with his life, whether for good or for evil, with the talents he was born with, whatever he may be. Does any of that make sense?”
    Kelson smiled self-consciously and lowered his gaze. “You sounded like Alaric just then. Or my father. He used to talk to me that way.”
    “He would be very proud of you, my prince. He was very fortunate to have a son like you. If I had a son . . .” He looked down at Kelson and a glance passed between them. Then Duncan squeezed the boy’s shoulder reassuringly and stepped back to the table.
    “I’ll go, then. Alaric and I will make every effort to keep you informed of our progress or lack thereof. Meanwhile, trust Nigel. Rely on him. And whatever you do, don’t intimidate the archbishops until Alaric and I have time to circumvent them.”
    “Don’t worry.” Kelson smiled. “I won’t do anything hasty. I’m not afraid anymore.”
    “Just as long as that Haldane temper doesn’t get out of hand,” Duncan admonished with a grin. “God willing, I shall see you in Culdi in a week or so. The Lord keep you safe until then, my prince.”
    “And you, Father,” Kelson whispered as the priest disappeared through the door.

CHAPTER THREE
    “I am a man: I hold that nothing human is alien to me.”
    TERENCE
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    “ ‘AND