Free The King’s Justice by Katherine Kurtz

his body—”
    â€œMother …”
    Pushing himself away from the table with an exasperated sigh and a scraping of heavy chair legs against stone, Kelson stood and glanced at Nigel and Meraude, who had remained notably silent throughout this last exchange.
    â€œFortunately, the subject of Llewell’s issue has been rendered academic,” Kelson said patiently, catching Nigel’s eye in signal that it was time to make their escape. “Nor have I any wish to discuss the matter further this evening. The commanders of my northern army leave for Cassan tomorrow morning, and there are matters Nigel and I must discuss before then. Uncle, would you please make your apologies to the ladies? We still have work ahead of us before we sleep.”
    He could only admire Nigel’s coolness as the older man rose to take his leave. Though he knew Nigel trusted him and his Deryni colleagues implicitly, and they him, he must have harbored some apprehension about the “work” still ahead of them, if only for the fact that he was the object of that work and did not know what would be done to him. Still, he showed no glimmer of anything but relaxed duty as he pulled a cloak around his shoulders and advised Meraude not to wait up.
    â€œYou know how long Kelson’s staff meetings sometimes last, darling,” he told her. “We could be half the night. You and the little one need your rest.”
    Meraude smiled and laid one hand on her swollen abdomen as her husband followed Kelson out, glancing aside at Jehana wistfully when the door had closed behind them. Jehana looked a bit taken aback, as if she could not quite believe how Kelson had managed his escape.
    â€œHe’s become quite the young man while you were away, hasn’t he?” Meraude said.
    Jehana lowered her gaze. “I hardly recognize him,” she whispered. “He’s so stern and warlike—and grown-up.”
    â€œChildren do that,” Meraude answered gently. “I’m having to face the same realization about Conall. And Rory comes of age in the fall as well—though fourteen-year-olds still have a little time for being boys yet.”
    â€œMine didn’t,” Jehana murmured.
    â€œTrue. But Kelson was already a king by the time he turned fourteen. For Rory to face a similar circumstance would require tragedy indeed. No, Rory is my little boy for yet a while longer—and Payne, of course. And soon there’ll be the new baby for loving. But I do hope this one will be a girl.”
    Jehana grimaced. “A girl, to become a pawn one day for a royal marriage?”
    â€œA girl, to marry where her heart dictates, if God wills it,” Meraude replied. “With three older brothers to carry on the line, I see little reason to force her into any marriage she would not want. Or perhaps she will prefer marriage with the Church. I gather that would not displease you.”
    Jehana smiled bitterly, tracing a fingertip through a small spill of ale on the table before her. “Would that my marriage had been with the Church, and saved the passing of the taint I carry within me,” she murmured.
    â€œAnd what of Kelson, if you had?” Meraude countered. “Aside from the fact that Kelson would not have been Kelson, given another mother, where would he have been without your inheritance and protection when he had to face Charissa?”
    â€œHe might have died,” Jehana conceded. “But at least he would have been human, his soul unsullied by the Deryni curse I placed upon him by bearing him.”
    Shaking her head, Meraude pushed herself heavily back from the table. “You won’t let go of it, will you? You’re Deryni, Jehana. Nothing you can do will change that. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be a curse. Surely it’s possible some good might come of it.”
    â€œI fear you listen far too much to my son,” Jehana said sadly. “It is a curse,