Morgan rubbed his hand across his chin and shook his head. “I don’t know. But it’s as though someone’s putting ideas in my head, ideas over which I have no real control. So far, they’ve been good ideas, but—hell, Duncan. Maybe we do have Camber of Culdi working for us. At this point, I’m ready to believe almost anything, no matter how far-fetched.” He crossed to the balcony doors and pulled aside the drapes, stood there looking out across the darkened city. “After all, what do a couple of half-breed Deryni know about anything?”

Duncan crossed to the doors and followed Morgan’s gaze. “There has to be some rational explanation. Maybe it will all be clear once the power struggle is over.”

Morgan nodded. “Very well, dismiss it that way if you like. I have another problem. Did anything else bother you about tonight?”

“You mean Lord Edgar’s attack, or his turnabout accusations?”

“Neither,” Morgan replied. “I wasn’t expecting that Kelson would be able to Truth-Read. I wish you had told me you taught him to do that. It would have saved me a lot of worrying.”

“Me?” Duncan answered, mystified. “You mean, you didn’t teach him?”

Morgan let the drape fall back in place and turned to face Duncan aghast. “Surely you jest. I never—” He paused to think. “Is it possible that Brion taught him?”

“Out of the question,” Duncan replied. “Brion wasn’t Deryni, and only another Deryni could have taught him that.”

“Has he ever seen you do it?” Morgan insisted.

“Never! I hadn’t made any practical demonstrations to Kelson before today. Remember, he didn’t even know what I was. Could he have seen you do it?”

“Of course he could have. Dozens of times. But without his father’s powers, which he shouldn’t be able to use yet . . . Duncan, I’ve just had an astonishing thought. Is it possible that the boy has Deryni blood?”

Duncan reflected. “I don’t see how. Brion was full human. There’s absolutely no doubt about that, so—surely you aren’t implying that Brion is not his father. That’s absurd.”

Morgan shook his head distractedly. “No, Brion is his father, all right. You have only to look at him to see that. You don’t suppose that Jehana . . .”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously as his voice trailed off. He looked across at Duncan and was heartened to see that his cousin’s reaction mirrored his own.

Duncan let out a long sigh of disbelief and shook his head. “The queen a Deryni? It would certainly explain a lot, if true: her antipathy toward Brion’s powers, her adamant stand against you, outwardly based on religious fervor . . . If she is, do you suppose she realizes?”