“We ran a far greater risk if we did not open it,” Morgan interjected. “Brion’s ritual for Kelson called for something that was buried with him by mistake. We had to have it; nothing else would do. So we had to open the tomb.” He glanced at his hands, at the two rings winking there. “As it was, it’s a good thing we did. Brion was under a—a shape-changing spell. It had also bound his soul to some degree. Fortunately, we were able to break the spell and free him.”

“Dear God!” Nigel murmured. “And you’re sure that’s all you did?”

“Yes,” Morgan replied. “That, and we also took what we had come for in the first place: the Eye of Rom. Kelson didn’t want to just take it, so Duncan gave him the crucifix to leave in its place. We never dreamed that anyone would reopen the tomb after we had gone.”

“Well, they did,” Nigel muttered, shaking his head. “Poor Brion. And poor Kelson. You’re all going to be blamed for it, you know, regardless of what you say. Alaric, what are we going to do?”

Before Morgan could reply, there was a pounding at the door, and Nigel’s head jerked up apprehensively.

“O Lord, that’s probably Jehana! And she’s found out about the crucifix. You’d better let her in before she has the door broken down!”

Before anyone else could move to intercept, Kelson shouldered past them to slip the bolt. As expected, an angry Jehana pushed her way through. But Kelson was quick to force the door closed behind her before any of the guards in her company could enter with her. Jehana was so furious she did not seem to notice that fact, however, for she immediately confronted Morgan and Duncan.

“How dare you!” she whispered through clenched teeth. “How dare you turn on him like this! And you, Father Duncan!” She whirled on the priest. “You call yourself a man of God. Murderers have no right to that name!”

She whipped out her left hand to disclose Duncan’s gilded crucifix, now stained to a deeper, redder hue, and brandished it before the priest’s eyes.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” she demanded, never raising her voice from the low, deadly tone in which she had first begun. “I defy you to give me a rational explanation for what you’ve done!”

When Duncan did not answer, she returned her attention to Morgan and was just about to start on him again when she noticed the Eye of Rom glinting in Kelson’s right ear. She froze, as though unable to believe what she saw, then turned her outrage on her son.

“You monster!” she cried. “You misbegotten creature of darkness! You would desecrate your own father’s tomb, you would murder for this power! Oh, Kelson, Kelson—see what this foul Deryni curse has brought you to!”