King Javan’s Year by Katherine Kurtz Page B

it wasn’t their ritual that night; it was Father’s,” Javan went on. “And it had something to do with—preparing us to receive his power—or at least setting its potential. I—think it was supposed to surface in you, as the heir, once he was dead.” He searched his brother’s eyes. “But it never did, did it?”
    Alroy swallowed and shook his head weakly. “Life might have been a lot easier if it had,” he whispered. “If I’d even been able to Truth-Read—”
    â€œI think it was the drugs the regents gave you,” Javan said, to shift any sense of guilt away from Alroy and onto the former regents—whose actions might well have prevented Alroy from coming into his magic, for all Javan knew. “If they hadn’t kept you drugged all the time—”
    Alroy closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head again. “It doesn’t matter now,” he whispered, stifling a slight cough. “They did, and I didn’t. Do you—do you think it will pass to you, once I’m gone?”
    Nodding wordlessly, Javan squeezed his dying brother’s hand. “Some of it already has,” he whispered. “I don’t think it was supposed to, but it did. It started soon after Father died. Tavis thought I might have gotten primed for it by working with him for so long. I got accustomed to having him put me into trance when he’d use his Healing to work on my foot. Shields were the first thing we discovered. We found that out the night after his hand was cut off. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wanted to help. I put myself totally into his power that night, to do with me as he needed. And he—was able to pull energy from me, past shields that neither of us had even suspected were there.”
    â€œ Shields …” Alroy barely mouthed the word, his grey eyes wide with wonder and a little fear.
    â€œI know,” Javan went on. “It all scares me, too. I’ve gotten much stronger since then. Alroy, I have powers almost like a Deryni. If I’m careful, I can control some humans.” He hazarded a quick grin. “I used to do it to Charlan all the time, once I found out how. It’s dangerous, though, if anyone found out.”
    Alroy swallowed hard, stifling another cough, and glanced uneasily at Oriel, still bowed deep in trancing beside him.
    â€œHe knows some of it,” Javan whispered, answering the unasked question. “No one else does, other than the Deryni working directly with Father Joram.”
    â€œWhat about Rhysem?” Alroy whispered, looking beyond the bed where Rhys Michael guarded the door.
    Javan shook his head. “There was no way to tell him. And it only would have made things more dangerous, once I was away from Court.”
    â€œBut you’re back now,” Alroy said anxiously. “And you do intend to stay, don’t you?”
    Javan smiled faintly. “I’m not meant to be a priest,” he said, “though I think I understand now what Father was giving up in accepting the crown. In any case, the seminary’s been a grand place to hide, these past few years—and to acquire a useful education while I gave myself time to grow up. I’d hoped it would all be in aid of helping you rule, as one of your ministers; but I suppose I guessed, deep inside, that it wasn’t going to happen. Murdoch and his cronies were never going to let you rule.”
    â€œThat’s why they kept me drugged,” Alroy whispered, closing his eyes briefly. “Just enough to take the edge off any resistance or independent thought. I knew, after a while—but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
    â€œI’ve foiled their plans, though, haven’t I? At least I’ve given you time. You’re four years older than I was when I became king. You won’t need to have regents. And you’re onto them. You won’t be as