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Authors: Katherine Kurtz

The King’s Justice

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Also by Katherine Kurtz

The Deryni Novels

The Chronicles of the Deryni

Deryni Rising

Deryni Checkmate

High Deryni

The Legends of Camber of Culdi

Camber of Culdi

Saint Camber

Camber the Heretic

The Histories of King Kelson

The Bishop's Heir

The King's Justice

The Quest for Saint Camber

The Heirs of Saint Camber

The Harrowing of Gwynedd

King Javan's Year

The Bastard Prince

The Childe Morgan Trilogy

In the King's Service

Childe Morgan

The King's Deryni

Other novels

King Kelson's Bride

The King's Justice

The Histories of King Kelson, Volume Two

Katherine Kurtz

For

Cameron Alexander MacMillan

What a Neat Kid!

C
ONTENTS

P
ROLOGUE

And the king shall do according to his will.

—
Daniel
11:30

I
With arrows and with bow shall one come thither.

—
Isaiah
7:24

II
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

—
Micah
6:7

III
For they have begotten strange children.

—
Hosea
5:7

IV
This is the faithful and prudent steward, whom the master will set over his household.

—
Luke
12:42

V
He shall direct his counsel and knowledge, and in his secrets shall he meditate.

—
Ecclesiasticus
39:7

VI
Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.

—
Psalms
60:4

VII
For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against thee.

—
Psalms
83:5

VIII
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear.

—
Nahum
3:3

IX
She entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs.

—
Wisdom of Solomon
10:16

X
I have multiplied visions.

—
Hosea
12:10

XI
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

—
Job
4:12

XII
Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions.

—
Job
7:14

XIII
The king's strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness.

—
Psalms
99:4

XIV
The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

—
Job
18:10

XV
Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

—
Job
21:27

XVI
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.

—
Psalms
7:13

XVII
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer.

—
Revelations
6:2–3

XVIII
The skill of the physician shall lift up his head.

—
Ecclesiasticus
38:3

XIX
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

—
Proverbs
25:25

XX
So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued he him that punished.

—
Wisdom of Solomon
18:22

XXI
He hath stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.

—
Job
19:9

XXII
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

—
Psalms
82:7

Preview:
The Quest for Saint Camber

Appendix   I:   Index of Characters

Appendix  II:   Index of Places

Appendix  III:   Partial Lineage of the Haldane Kings

Appendix  IV:   The Festillic Kings of Gwynedd and Their Descendants

Appendix  V:   Partial Lineage of the MacRories

About the Author

P
ROLOGUE

And the king shall do according to his will
.

—Daniel 11:30

“I tell you, he isn't
going
to change his mind,” the Deryni Bishop Arilan said, slapping the ivory table with both palms for emphasis as his gaze swept the three men and three women seated with him in the vaulted chamber. “Not only will he not change—he refuses to even
discuss
it.”

“But, he
must
discuss it!” Laran ap Pardyce, wizened and frail-looking in his black scholar's robes, was clearly appalled. “No Haldane king has
ever
done this before. Surely you've warned him what might happen.”

In the wan, purpled light filtering through the room's great octagonal dome, Arilan leaned his head against the high back of his chair and breathed a forbearing sigh, praying for patience.

“I have—repeatedly.”

“And?” the woman to his left asked.

“And if I continue to press the point, he may cease to confide in me at all.” He turned his head to look at her wearily. “You may not think that likely, Kyri, but it could yet come to that. God knows, he certainly doesn't trust us as a group.”

The group was the Camberian Council, of course; and the subject of their discussion was the seventeen-year-old King of Gwynedd: Kelson Cinhil Rhys Anthony Haldane, now more than three years on his murdered father's throne.

Nor had the last three years been easy, for Council, king, or kingdom. Any boy-king might have fostered uneasiness among those designated to advise him—and despite the fact that few outside the room even knew of its existence, the Camberian Council considered itself so designated for the House of Haldane. But Kelson, unlike most sovereigns come prematurely to their thrones, had fallen heir to magic: the puissant and forbidden Deryni bloodline of his mother, Queen Jehana, her heritage unknown even to herself before she was forced to use it at his coronation, and the equally powerful Haldane potential for the assumption of magical abilities from King Brion, his father.

In anyone but Kelson, the combination might have been deadly, for Deryni were almost universally feared throughout Gwynedd, and hated by many. Before the Haldane Restoration two centuries before, Gwynedd had lain under Deryni domination for generations, Deryni sorcery enforcing the will of a despotic line that had not hesitated to advance Deryni fortunes over human in whatever way was most expedient. So had Deryni magic come to be despised as well as feared; and few knew or remembered any longer that Deryni as well as humans had fought to overthrow the Deryni tyrants, or that a discredited Deryni saint, besides giving his name to the Council that met in this secret chamber, had first triggered the magic of the Haldane kings.

BOOK: The King’s Justice
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