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“I’ve asked Duncan to lay his open hands on the table so that you will be able to observe any sign of tension as the questioning progresses—though I don’t expect to see any. I have my hand on his wrist, partly for the same reason and partly because I’ve found that physical contact enhances control in this kind of procedure. Are you comfortable, Duncan?”
    â€œPhysically? Yes. Emotionally—” The Deryni duke-bishop shrugged and grinned, still playing innocent of direct Deryni knowledge. “I’ve watched this done before, Sire. I’m not sure I look forward to reliving the days of my brash youth. I was very ardent.”
    Kelson smiled fleetingly, feeling for Duncan, but there was no way around it. It had to be done.
    â€œNonetheless,” the king said, as he turned his Truth-Reading talent on his friend. “Let’s begin with a simple review of basics. Please state your full name for the noble lords of this tribunal, and all your offices.”
    â€œDuncan Howard McLain,” Duncan said easily. “Priest and bishop. King’s Confessor. Duke of Cassan and Earl of Kierney. Acting Viceroy of Meara. I also have some subsidiary titles and offices. Do you want those, too?”
    â€œI don’t think that’s necessary. Did you contract a valid marriage with Dhugal MacArdry’s mother?”
    â€œI did.”
    â€œWhen was that?”
    â€œIt would have been early in April of 1107.”
    â€œAnd you were how old?”
    Duncan smiled. “An intellectually precocious but very naïve fifteen, courting an older woman. Maryse was a year older.”
    â€œI see. But you were both of noble houses, you a duke’s son and she the daughter of an earl. What made you decide to contract a secret marriage?”
    Duncan shook his head wistfully, letting his gaze shift in the general direction of the ring before Cardiel, remembering.
    â€œYouth. Impatience. Maryse and her mother and sisters had come to stay at Culdi while our fathers took their levies into Meara on campaign. The two clans had been closely allied for several generations. The way I heard it told, one of my father’s men killed one of her father’s men in a drunken brawl. Unfortunately, her father’s man was Ardry MacArdry, her eldest brother—the heir.
    â€œThe culprit was tried and executed in the field, as was proper, but neither side was really satisfied. Our fathers feared a blood feud if contact continued between the clans. So old Caulay broke off his MacArdry levies and had them transferred to another command, separate from my father’s, then rode back to Culdi with a small escort to get his womenfolk and hie them back to Transha.”
    â€œMaryse as well?” Kelson prompted.
    Duncan blinked several times and nodded, his voice faltering just a little as he continued.
    â€œI never planned to fall in love that spring. I had my studies and my vocation. I was to enter the seminary at Grecotha in the fall. I was old enough to go on campaign, but I’d stayed behind to host my father’s guests while he and my brother went. Nothing like love was supposed to happen.”
    He shook his head, amazed anew at how events had upset all their plans.
    â€œIt did happen, though. Within a few weeks, we were all caught up in it. We kept it secret, because we knew my mother would be furious when I told her I would not be entering the priesthood, but we planned to ask our parents’ permission to marry at the end of the summer, when our fathers came back from the war. Caulay’s unexpected return changed all that—and the threat of a blood feud.”
    â€œWhat changed?” Kelson asked.
    Duncan sighed. “We decided to marry anyway. We were thinking clearly enough not just to run away, but we knew none of the local priests would marry us without our parents’ consent, especially at such short notice. So we agreed to meet in the chapel at