In the night skies above them the black star reached its apex, suddenly shattered by an angry bolt of lightning. And in her hospital bed Katherine Thorn thought she was awakening naturally, unaware of the injection she had been given just moments before. She had suffered ten hours of labor and had felt the final contractions, but she slipped into unconsciousness before she could see the child. Now, as her faculties returned, she was gripped with fear but fought to calm herself as she heard footsteps approaching from the corridor outside. The door swung open and she saw her husband. And in his arms was a child.

"Our child," said Thorn, his voice trembling with emotion. "We've got our son."

She reached out and took the baby, and wept with joy. And as he watched through blurred eyes, Thorn thanked God for showing him the way.

Chapter Two

The Thorns were both of Catholic parentage, but neither of them was religious. Katherine was given to occasional prayer and visits to church on Christmas and Easter, but more out of superstition and sentiment than a belief in Catholic dogma. Thorn himself was lapsed and did not take seriously, as Katherine did, the fact that their son Damien was never christened. It wasn't that they didn't try. Immediately after his birth they dutifully brought the infant to church, but so abject was his terror upon entering the cathedral that they cut the ceremony short. The priest had followed them out to the street with water cupped in his hands, warning that if the child were not christened he could never enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but Thorn refused to continue, seeing clearly that the infant was in a state of terror. To satisfy Katherine they improvised a ceremony at home, but she was never totally reassured, intending one day to return with Damien and make sure it was done right.

That day never came, for they were swept into a whirlwind of distractions, and the christening was forgotten. The Economy Conference had ended and they moved back to Washington, Thorn resuming his duties as a Presidential advisor and becoming a political entity in his own right. Their rambling estate in McLean, Virginia, became the scene of gatherings that made the columns from New York to California, and the Thorn family became familiar to readers of national magazines all over the country. They were photogenic, they were rich, and they were on the way up. And, more important, they were often in the company of the President. It was plain that Thorn was being groomed, and it came as no surprise to political speculators when he was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James, a key position in which he could display his charismatic potential to advantage.