InTheKingsService

As I do with each new Deryni novel that passes my way, I did not so much read In The King’s Service the first time through—I devoured it. What was different about this time was that the book was in paperback galley form sent by Katherine’s publisher, and I was reading it during my visit to Holybrooke Hall in September, 2003. Was it any wonder I stayed up very late to read “just one more page” each night during my visit?

My second, more mindful reading took place in November after the official release. In several ways, this book represents something of a departure from the usual Deryni novel. Some of the novels in the Camberian timeline cover time spans of a year or two, but in most cases, the action takes place in the space of months or weeks. In the King’s Service covers nine years, and the pace is rapid out of necessity. The Camberian Council, the court and the church all supply a large cast of characters, some familiar from appearances or mentions in previous books, some entirely new, including the ducal family of Corwyn. No single character dominates the novel, but the four most important characters are Lady Jessamy MacAthan, King Donal Haldane, Lady Alyce de Corwyn, and Sir Kenneth Morgan. In many ways, In the King’s Service is an informational novel, and a great deal of its function appears to be supplying information about the socio-political and religious atmosphere of the Eleven Kingdoms at the middle point of Donal Haldane’s reign in preparation for what is to come in the next two novels.

Regarding the Camberian Council, there are some familiar names on the roster as the novel opens, most notably, Vivienne and Barret de Laney. Adding to the complement is Sir Seisyll Arilan, uncle to Jamyl and Denis Arilan. Barrett’s elder sister, Lady Dominy de Laney, the previously mentioned Michon de Courcy, Sir Sief McAthan, and the hitherto unknown Oisín Adair complete the company. This starting line-up changes almost at once, when Sief McAthan is killed in self-defense by King Donal when Sief attacks him in blind rage after discovering his supposed son is actually Donal’s bastard. Replacing Sief is Khoren Vastouni, uncle to Sofiana, the future sovereign Princess of Andelon, and Camberian Council member. As a body politic, the Camberian Council has some clout to reinforce its aims, and defying the Council was not lightly done in 1082 when the novel begins. Lewys ap Norfal’s dangerous experiment at Coroth Castle in 1052 was a rare act of rebellion.

We can only speculate at the eventual fate of Dominy de Laney, Oisín Adair, Khoren Vastouni and Seisyll Arilan. Whether they retire from the council, or leave on account of age or death, or whether they tangle with the Church of Gwynedd and come off worst is currently unknown. As the council debates the wisdom of getting rid of Alexander Darby, an eminent anti-Deryni priest and author of De Natura Deryniorum, it seems possible that one or two may have encountered a mishap, and either died, or were forced to go into hiding. Michon de Courcy is still alive at the end of In The King’s Service, we must wait to find out what his fate will be. Vivienne and Barrett are the survivors, and plainly, Seisyll Arilan was succeeded by his nephews, Jamyl and Denis upon his eventual death or retirement. As Khoren’s niece, Sofiana may have been recruited during his lifetime, or filled his vacant seat after death.

The Church of Gwynedd, too, both is and is not familiar over the course of In the King’s Service. If Alexander Darby’s treatise, De Natura Deryniorum has become required reading in the seminaries of Gwynedd, we may surmise the official stance of the church has not changed much since 928. The Custodes Fidei may no longer exist as such, but their spiritual heirs are alive and well. Bishop Oliver de Nore, the Archbishop who later burns Jorian de Courcy in The Priesting of Arilan, is the ecclesiastical enemy du jour, as is his brother, Father Septimus de Nore. Bishop Patrick Corrigan who is Archbishop of Rhemuth by the end of Brion’s reign also appears briefly. Edmund Loris is not yet a player in In the King’s Service, but he will no doubt surface in volume two or three.

Fortunately for the Haldanes, the church no longer has the stranglehold upon them that Hubert MacInnis had on Alroy, Javan and Rhys Michael. It still manages to make its power felt when Donal takes revenge on Septimus de Nore who murdered his illegitimate son, Krispin. Balancing them are various more benevolent priests; Princess Dulchesse’s chaplain, and two priests at the Convent of Notre Dame d’Arc en Ciel where Alyce, Marie and Zoë Morgan are educated. Father Paschal Didier, family chaplain to Keryell Earl of Lendour and his children is the most instrumental to the story. As a native of Bremagne and a Deryni chaplain to a Deryni noble household, Father Paschal functions somewhat outside the loop of the Church of Gwynedd. He does not appear to be directly under the authority of any Gwyneddan bishop.

The religious atmosphere during Donal’s reign, while certainly not friendly or favorable to Deryni in terms of official policy, appears a degree or two more relaxed than at the end of Brion’s reign in Deryni Rising. To be openly Deryni is still unwise, especially at court, but simply being Deryni is not an automatic death sentence—at least not if one has royal protection. Jessamy is not widely known to be Deryni, and Alyce and Marie de Corwyn, while being known Deryni, do not appear to live in perpetual fear of religious persecution. Jessamy’s daughter, Sister Iris Jessilde, is a professed nun at Arc en Ciel, and it is implied she may not be the only Deryni there. Ahern de Corwyn is the acknowledged Earl of Lendour after his father’s death, and although by the Statutes of Ramos, he cannot inherit his senior title of Duke of Corwyn until age twenty-five, the church will not be able to prevent his inheritance when that time comes. In strategic terms, Donal’s need for a strong Deryni defense against Torenth in the southeast trumps the will of the Archbishop of Valoret. There is a showdown of ecclesiastical and temporal power at the end of In The King’s Service, but it is mild, compared with Loris’s open rebellion against Kelson thirty-odd years later.

Another departure for In The King’s Service is the number of prominent women, some previously mentioned in earlier books. There is far greater emphasis on marriage and family life in this novel, between intermittent Mearan campaigns and a Torenthi invasion of Corwyn in 1089. We glimpse the start of Sief and Jessamy’s marriage in The Green Tower thirty years before In The King’s Service, and see it end only pages into the first chapter of this novel. The most Sief and Jessamy appear able to do is to beget children and tolerate one another the rest of the time. While Sief is understandably outraged to learn his wife and king cheated him of his longed-for son, he has not been much of a father to his four daughters by Jessamy in the meantime. While neither Sief nor Jessamy would betray one other to a true enemy, the blame for their unhappy marriage cuts in both directions. Jessamy makes it clear that she puts up with her husband out of duty, reserving her true affection for the queens and princesses of Gwynedd whom she serves as a lady-in-waiting. In the prologue Sief states the only alternative to marriage for Jessamy was death, and the Camberian Council does not contradict him—not the most stellar moment in the Council’s long history. Surely, seven adult Deryni should not have been so frightened of an eleven-year-old girl’s potential, however dangerous and reckless her father had been, and why did none of them bother to explain anything to her? Instead, they might have fostered Jessamy to the care of Duke Stiofan Anthony de Corwyn where she’d have had Stevana for company, and the potential to grow up a happier woman. Nor, as Jessamy reaches adulthood, does the Council give her credit for having any common sense or loyalty. Jessamy shows she possesses both these qualities when Sief takes her to court after their marriage. Princess Dulchesse Haldane gives Jessamy the attention and affection she craves, and Dulchesse and her successors are rewarded with years of Jessamy’s love and loyal service. While pitiable, Jessamy is not altogether sympathetic or trustworthy in In The King’s Service. I found her interesting nonetheless—she may know what is necessary to survive, but she doesn’t always have to like it.

Stevana de Corwyn is dead before the novel opens, but through tantalizing hints, it’s clear she had no more say about her marriage than Jessamy did. Whether Earl Keryell of Lendour was ambitious, amorous, impetuous, or all three when he abducts and forcibly marries Stevana after Duke Stiofan’s death is not known. He benefits from the marriage, as he gains three daughters and a son to replace his dead first heir; becomes a principal regent in Corwyn, and his bloodline is joined to the ducal family of Corwyn, which may have been his aim, all along. We can only guess whether Stevana benefited, as we do not know what married life was like for her, and she dies when her children are quite young. Keryell fosters Alyce, Marie and Ahern to the Orsal’s court for several years, suggesting at least he was a less than devoted father. As Prince Sobbon von Horthy had several children of his own, the three Corwyn children would have had plenty of playmates, but not much individual adult attention. Just at the beginning of ITKS, Keryell recalls them, and fosters his two daughters to court in Rhemuth prior to taking a third wife. Keryell keeps Ahern with him, no doubt to begin teaching him lessons in statecraft before he inherits Lendour and Corwyn.

On the surface, it seems surprising that Alyce is the future mother of Alaric Morgan who spends his youth and early adulthood as the center of controversy at King Brion’s court. Alyce herself does not appear to be a rebel at all, leaving the defiance to her younger sister, Marie. Alyce does to all that is asked of her, and in the end, Marie does the same, although not without protest. It may be that Alyce learned obedience and good behavior were the surest way to secure adult approval and attention during her time at the Orsal’s court, and simply never outgrew the habit. When Donal Haldane assumes most of the responsibility for her future, Alyce may have further realized she would have to do the king’s will no matter what her personal feelings were, and unlike Jessamy, decided to make the best of her lot. Marie is not so easily guided, and her love for Sir Sé Trelawney, a young Corwyn knight in Keryell’s and Ahern’s service, eventually proves to be her downfall, although not because of the king. Alyce’s good temper appears to serve her well enough. When compared to the lives of other Deryni since the Restoration, Alyce and Marie must be considered fortunate within certain parameters. While they see little of their father and brother for almost four years, as highborn young women under the protection of both the king and queen of Gwynedd, they lead very pleasant, safe lives.

My greatest exception to Alyce’s equanimity is that she retains it, even in the face of devastating personal losses. She certainly grieves for her father, sister and brother in turn, and is not left entirely bereft, as by the time of Marie’s and Ahern’s deaths, she has been reunited with her twin sister, Vera. She also has her friend Zoë Morgan and her father, Sir Kenneth Morgan for support. Still, Alyce shows no prolonged depression, bitterness or rebellion, as one might expect to see in a young woman who has lost almost all her family within the space of four years. Being unjustly excommunicated for following Donal’s orders does not appear to faze her very much. As heiress to the only Gwyneddan Duchy under Deryni control since before the Restoration, I would have expected somewhat more anxiety over the future of her family’s lands and titles from Alyce, as well.

Concerning Vera (de Corwyn) Howard, the novels in the Kelsonian timeline make it clear that Alyce and Vera’s true relationship and consequently, Duncan’s Deryni blood, was successfully kept secret after the death of both sisters and far into Duncan’s adulthood. How this secret was kept had to be explained at some point in the Childe Morgan books. That Keryell and Stevana could give up one of their infant twin daughters, even for her protection, seems fantastic, but it does account for the secret. For all that she is separated from her real parents, sisters and brother for most of her childhood, Vera may have been the happiest of the four de Corwyn children, and outlives all her siblings. Upon her adolescence, she is brought to Keryell’s household as a lady-in-waiting to his third wife, Lady Rosmerta. There, she learns Keryell is her real father, and acquires magical tutoring from Father Paschal. Later, she is brought to court by Queen Richeldis, at the suggestion of Alyce and Marie, where she eventually makes a good match with Earl Jared McLain. We know from Deryni Checkmate that her marriage to Jared was long and happy. No doubt we shall come to know Vera better in the second and third Childe Morgan books, as she raises Alaric and Bronwyn Morgan, Kevin McLain, and her own son, Duncan.

Queen Richeldis Haldane is another happy woman and wife, for all that she and Donal are decades apart in age. She appears very content with her lot in life as a whole. Perhaps Richeldis was taught to expect little and forgive much in marriage, or else she has a gift for taking her happiness wherever she finds it. She and Donal appear genuinely fond of one another with a true compatibility that transcends their age difference. They are secure enough that their marriage can encompass some affectionate teasing and informality. Richeldis gives Donal four sons and two daughters within the course of the novel, so she must enjoy great favor and status at court, given her dynastic success. To all indications, Brion and Nigel and their brothers and sisters had fairly stable, happy childhoods as royal childhoods go. The only mystery is what became the rest of these Haldane princes and princesses in the years between In the King’s Service and Deryni Rising, when there is not so much as a mention of their presence or their fates.

If Richeldis ever wonders about the strong Haldane resemblance between her sons and Krispin MacAthan, she does not mention it, nor does she express any bitterness toward Jessamy or Donal that we ever see. It may be that she can handle the situation as long as she never brings the accusation into the open—if she does not acknowledge it, then her husband and friend did not betray her. Alternatively, it’s possible if unlikely that Richeldis did know Donal planned to give their children a Deryni protector and how it was done. Royalty demands certain personal sacrifices in the service of the realm, and Donal is very much king first and husband second. It cannot be denied that the danger of Festillic and Furstán challengers has been a continuing threat to the Haldanes.

Whatever fears Alyce might have for Corwyn are apparently assuaged by her marriage to Sir Kenneth Morgan who becomes principal regent for the duchy. Discreet, loyal and competent, but unassuming, Kenneth Morgan is a welcome addition to the numbers of ‘good’ humans in the Deryni cannon. He is also bowled over by Donal’s royal favor in allowing him, a man of no great fortune or title in his own right, to marry Alyce. It is at once a romantic fantasy come true and a gigantic social promotion for Kenneth Morgan. Alyce gains a loyal champion, and a companion who is intelligent, well read and conversational. As he and Alyce have known each other, their mutual good will transforms from a quasi father-daughter affection at the start to a true, happy marriage by the end. At the very end of the novel, Kenneth shows superhuman restraint at finding Donal in his very bedchamber, apparently intent on fathering a child upon Alyce, without her knowledge or consent. Two factors may have had influence on Kenneth at that point. First of all, he has benefited enormously through royal favor, and the man who can take everything he values and all that he has gained away from him is the same king who has tried to wrong him. Not to mention that to strike one’s king is treasonous and potentially deadly. Secondly, Kenneth knows what Donal does not; he has already fathered a child on Alyce, despite the king’s efforts to keep the couple apart in the first months of their marriage. Knowing they have the upper hand concerning what the king most wanted, Alyce and Kenneth can afford to be gracious and opt to forgive Donal. Nor is Donal’s quest for a Deryni protector for his sons in vain at the end, as Alaric Morgan is born at the end of the epilogue.

The quartet of main characters in In The King’s Service is already reduced by Jessamy’s death near the end of the novel. According to genealogical charts, both Donal and Alyce are not much longer for this world, and Kenneth Morgan will not survive them by very many years. Since Alaric is still very young when Alyce dies, Kenneth will no doubt still play an important part in the first half of volume two. Vera Howard McLain and Duke Jared, who help raise Alaric and Bronwyn Morgan with their own sons, Kevin and Duncan, will also likely be prominent. The setting too, will change, as Alaric spends much of his childhood in Culdi, Kierney and Cassan with his aunt and uncle. I will look forward to Alaric’s return to court at age nine in particular, and the beginning of his long, deep friendship with King Brion. I have been curious about that friendship ever since my first reading of Deryni Rising nearly three decades ago, and can hardly wait to find out about it in book two.

Katherine’s newest novel, In the King’s Service, introduces us to a group of fascinating characters who inhabit Gwynedd and the Eleven Kingdoms during the late 11th Century. This is our first in-depth look at Gwynedd in the era between Rhys Michael and Kelson. And this definitely is a different Gwynedd. While Deryni are still persecuted by fanatical religious leaders like Oliver de Nore, his brother Septimus, and Alexander Darby, Deryni seem to exist in more safety than they did in Javan and Rhysem’s time. Major changes have already occurred in the Camberian Council which was comprised almost entirely of Gwyneddan Deryni in the Camberian and immediately post-Camberian era. Now, as in the Kelsonian era, most of the Camberian Council members live and work in realms outside of Gwynedd. Since analyzing all the characters and the Camberian Council would make this a novel-length column, let’s look specifically at four major characters: Jessamy, Donal, Alyce, and Kenneth.

Jessamy is a rather tragic character. Robbed of her girlhood by her mother’s death and her father’s disappearance and apparent demise during a mysterious magical endeavor, Jessamy is forced into a loveless marriage and lives most of her life controlled by Deryni who detest her simply because of her father’s actions. Did Lewys ap Norfal care little for his daughter to leave her in the hands of the members of the Camberian Council he had just defied? Or was his magical endeavor so important that it made sacrificing his daughter worthwhile? And if the latter, did he achieve any measure of success to make his own and his daughter’s sacrifices worthwhile? Hopefully Katherine will someday tell us the whole Lewys ap Norfal story.

After being forced to marry Seif, eleven-year-old Jessamy comes to King Malcolm’s court where she finds friends and safety with Princess Dulchesse. Dulchesse protects her from Seif’s lust until she turns fourteen, at which point she must go to Sief’s bed and bear him children. Alas, Jessamy’s firstborn son and all other sons until Krispin, died in childbirth or are stillborn. She does seem to enjoy mothering her daughters and enjoys her friendships with Dulchesse, Sile, and Richeldis.

Despite the Camberian Council’s fears that Jessamy will cause some kind of trouble as her father did, Jessamy apparently does nothing remotely questionable until she embarks upon an affair with King Donal. It seems that perhaps Jessamy actually loves Donal; certainly she enjoys sharing his bed more than she enjoys sharing Sief’s bed. “His (Krispin’s) very begetting had been profoundly different from any of the others – no resentful and resigned yielding to marital duty, but welcome fruit of a well-planning series of quick, focused couplings...the memory stirred a pleasant aching in her loins.”

Did Donal and Jessamy continue their relationship after Krispin’s birth? We do not know, though it seems unlikely since Donal now has what he most desired: a son and magical protector for his heir. Whether she loves Donal or not, Jessamy definitely loves their son, Krispin. She also does not truly mourn Sief, though she does nothing to assist Donal in mindripping him. Of course, we don’t know if Jessamy participated in Donal’s empowerment ritual. And if Jessamy did not, then who did? Someone obviously helped Donal gain access to his Deryni/Haldane powers. If not Jessamy, then either a Deryni was working in Rhemuth in secret for many years or someone on the Camberian Council was taking action without the Council’s knowledge. (We know this happens in the Kelsonian era with Coram and later Tiercel). The latter seems more likely, since one would think that a Deryni who worked outside the Council might have felt moved to assist Jessamy in somehow defying the Council and finding freedom from their rigid control of her life.

Apparently, Jessamy comes to accept the Council’s role in her life and in the working’s of Gwyneddan politics, since before her death she tells Seisyll Arilan the truth about Krispin’s parentage, Sief’s death, and Donal’s plans for Alyce. Given Jessamy’s obvious fondness for Alyce, it seems somewhat surprising that she would assist Donal in taking Alyce without her consent in an attempt to produce another Deryni protector for Brion. Perhaps she agrees to this out of love for Donal. Or perhaps she wishes once more to circumvent the will of the Camberian Council. The latter, however, seems unlikely given her confession to Seisyll; though if she did assist Donal in his empowerment she takes that secret to her grave.

Whatever her actions, I find Jessamy a very sympathetic character who would have been more than justified in acting out against Sief or the Camberian Council. If she truly possessed the dangerous powers the Council feared, what might she have been able to accomplish?

Donal is a much less sympathetic character than Jessamy or than many of the other Haldanes (Javan, Rhysem, and Kelson) whom we know and love. Donal seems to use his powers rather casually and to act with little concern for the feelings and needs of those around him. Jessamy obviously felt great affection for him; yet one suspects for Donal their coupling represented merely the means to an end, “an affair of state.” He believes that his queen’s barrenness justifies his infidelity. And while he regrets killing Sief, he considers this also a necessary act of kingship. Sief would not accept Donal’s child, therefore Sief had to die. Perhaps such ruthlessness is necessary in a Gwyneddan king of this era, but it makes Donal much less sympathetic that most of the other kings we have come to know.

Later we see Donal use Jorian’s Deryni abilities to assist in questioning military prisoners; once again using Deryni with little care for their feelings about the task. Given his close work with Jorian, perhaps Jorian empowered Donal. But Jorian, too, seems to be under the control of the Council – he willingly agrees to investigate Jessamy and Krispin when Oisin visits him.

After Krispin’s death, we for the first time see Donal truly grieving and emotional. Yet his anger quickly turns to a need for vengeance and he uses Alyce to prove the killers’ guilt and then begins plotting to impregnate Alyce as he did Jessamy. While Donal appears to have been an efficient king who keeps the peace as well as any might in his world, he seems somewhat lacking in sensitivity and genuine affection for anyone other than Krispin. And one wonders if he loved Krispin primarily for who he was as a person or because of the way in which he planned to use him to assist Brion.

While his relationship with Jessamy is understandable, as is his desire to provide his son with a loyal Deryni protector, Donal’s decision to take Alyce without her knowledge or consent cannot be viewed as other than rape. Eventually, of course, he fails in this plan because Father Paschal has undone Jessamy’s controls on Alyce’s mind and because Alyce is already carrying Kenneth’s child. Donal seems genuinely ashamed of his actions when he weeps with Alyce and appears even to feel guilty for the way he treated Jessamy. Only time and Childe Morgan II will tell if and how much this experience has changed Donal.

We first meet Alyce when she and her sister, Marie, come to Carthanelle to be fostered at court after their father’s marriage to Rosmerta, Alyce possesses a feisty nature we have rarely seen in Gwyneddan women, other than Evaine and Rhysel. When she goes to Arc en Ciel she repeatedly makes it clear that she and her sister have come there to study, not to take permanent vows. She maintains strength and courage while living at Arc en Ciel with the evil Father Septimus de Nore. Also we don’t get to see the details of their conflict, but apparently Alyce prevailed since Father Septimus is sent away. Later Alyce stands beside her sisters during the traumatic loss of their father and the shocking discovery that Vera is her sister. Alyce seems to possess the same strength and courage as her brother, Ahern, although she is tested in different ways.

While Ahern must fight through pain and a crippling injury, Alyce must patiently sit by waiting for the king to choose a husband for her and watching as the men she loves, first father and then brother, die.

At Arc en Ciel, Alyce makes friends with Zoe and succeeds as a student of in academics, womanly arts, and Deryni magic. We do not see her use her powers often (only with Vera when Vera reveals her true identity, when she truthreads Krispin’s murderers, and at the end, with Donal) but we know that she is a powerful and well-trained Deryni. We see her become involved at court in writing up the census records for Donal. Perhaps we will see that document become important in a future novel.

Alyce also has to be strong when Marie and the children are killed by the marchpane, poisoned by the treacherous Lady Muriella. She puts aside her own grief to help Jessamy make sure that Krispin and Brion vomit any of the poisonous candy they may have eaten.

Later Alyce uses her powers to calm Kenneth’s skittish horse and to help Kenneth bear the pain from his injured leg. Slowly the love between Alyce and Kenneth develops as Alyce matures from schoolgirl to powerful Deryni heiress. Given that Alyce truly loves Kenneth and wants to marry him, we know that she would never choose to betray him by sleeping with Donal, even if she believed she were acting in the best interest of the crown. Alyce seems to feel genuine sympathy for Donal and a surprising lack of anger given what he intended to do to her.

Of course, we knew (even before reading ITKS) that Alyce was a strong, remarkable woman since she produced a powerful, sensitive Deryni son in Alaric Morgan.

Like his ancestor, Charlan Kai Morgan, and his son, Alaric, Kenneth Morgan serves the Gwyneddan King with unflinching loyalty. He rides great distances to bring tragic news, such as the information about Ahern’s terminal illness, and fights through pain and serious injury himself. Kenneth also seems very humble. Despite his love for Alyce, he considers her above him in political status and believes it unlikely that Donal will allow him to marry her.

All through Alyce’s young life, Kenneth keeps reappearing at her times of need and supporting her quietly and calmly. But only after he becomes injured and they start chatting about her use of her powers to assist in his recovery and to calm his horse, does Alyce begin to see him as a man and not just as Donal’s vassal. Presumably he only begins falling in love with her at this point also, though one suspects he may have admired her from afar long before that. Kenneth is incredibly understanding and forgiving. When he learns that Donal intended to impregnate his bride, Alyce, he does not fly into a rage as Sief MacAthan did, but accepts that Donal was acting in the crown’s best interest. Beyond that, he forgives him and offers him in his personal loyalty and service to his house. “I can do more than that (forgive) – because you are my king and I and mine are in your service and in your homage and in your love, I hope….we shall give him to you, Sire…not physically, but in the sense of loyalty and power and utter devotion to your House.”

This is remarkably kind of Kenneth, whom one would expect to be furious at Donal’s intentions for his wife. But both Kenneth and Alyce genuinely care about Donal and about Gwynedd and the House of Haldane.

Many new characters and situations are introduced in In the King’s Service. Some characters we do not really get to know because we glimpse them too briefly. Perhaps some of those, like Morian, Zoe, and Richedis will appear in Childe Morgan II. We meet some intriguing personalities on the Camberian Council like Michon de Courcy and Oisin and Khoren – hopefully we’ll see more of them in future books too. Arc en Ciel introduces an intriguing haven for Deryni women and one wonders how this order may have acted behind the scenes to affect life in Gwynedd. Hopefully we’ll learn more about all of these fascinating characters, places, and situations and about Alyce and Kenneth’s romance in Childe Morgan II.