King of The Murgos

bottom of all this."
    "Don't be absurd, Urgit," his mother interrupted him. "These people must leave at once."
    "Don't interfere, mother."
    "Then stop acting like a child. Sadi must get past Rak Cthaka before the fighting starts there, and Kheldar must be on his way to Belgarion within the hour. Don't throw away this opportunity out of sheer pique."
    Their eyes locked. Urgit's face was suddenly angry, and his mother's unrelenting. After a long moment, his eyes dropped. "This isn't like you, mother," he mumbled. "Why are you deliberately trying to humiliate me in public?"
    "I'm not, Urgit. I'm just trying to bring you to your senses. A king must always bow to reality—even if it injures his pride." ,
    He gave her a long, penetrating look. "The time isn't really all that pressing, mother," he said. "Sadi has time to spare, and Kheldar really doesn't have to leave for a day or so. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you have some personal reason for not wanting me to talk to them any more."
    "Nonsense!" But her face had grown quite pale.
    "You're upset, mother," he pressed. "Why is that?"
    "She can't tell you," Eriond said suddenly. The young man was seated on a bench in front of a nearby window with the autumn sun streaming golden on his pale hair.
    "What?"
    "Your mother can't tell you," Eriond repeated. "There's a secret she's had locked in her heart since before you were born."
    "No!" Lady Tamazin gasped involuntarily. "You musn't!"
    "What is this secret?" Urgit demanded, his eyes flickering suspiciously from face to face.
    A slow flush crept up Eriond's cheeks. "I'd really rather not say," he replied in a slightly embarrassed tone.
    Velvet had been watching the exchange with wholly absorbed fascination; even as a startling suspicion dawned in Garion's mind, she suddenly began to laugh.
    "What's so funny, young lady?" Urgit asked irritably.
    "A peculiar thought just occurred to me, your Majesty," she replied. She turned to Lady Tamazin. "Didn't you say that you knew Prince Kheldar's father, my Lady?"
    Tamazin's chin lifted suddenly. Her face was still deadly pale, and she did not answer.
    "How long ago would you say that was?" Velvet asked.
    Tamazin's lips remained tightly closed.
    Velvet sighed, then looked at Silk. "Kheldar," she said, "quite a long time back your father visited Rak Goska, didn't he? I think it had something to do with some trade negotiations on behalf of King Rhodar. Do you happen to recall just how many years ago that was?"
    He looked puzzled. "I don't know," he replied. "It must have been—" He thought about it. "I remember that my mother and I stayed at the palace in Boktor while he was gone. I think I was eight or so at the time. That would make it about forty years, I guess. What's this all about, Liselle?"
    "Interesting," she murmured, ignoring his question. "My Lady Tamazin," she said, "you keep telling your son that he isn't going to go mad—but doesn't every male in the Urga line fall prey to that hereditary affliction? What is it that makes you so positive that he's somehow going to escape the family curse?"
    Tamazin's face grew even paler, and her lips were resolutely sealed.
    "My Lord High Seneschal," Velvet said to Oskatat, "just out of curiosity, how old is his Majesty?"
    Oskatat's face had also gone deadly pale. He looked at Lady Tamazin with a stricken expression, and then his lips also clamped shut.
    "I'm thirty-nine," Urgit snapped. "What difference does it—" Then he suddenly stopped, his eyes going very wide. He turned with a look of stunned incredulity. "Mother!" he gasped.
    Sadi began to laugh.
    "I just adore happy endings, don't you?" Velvet said brightly to Ce'Nedra. She looked impishly at Silk. "Well, don't just sit there, Kheldar. Go embrace your brother."
    The Lady Tamazin rose slowly from her chair, her face proud. "Summon the executioner, Oskatat," she said. "I am ready."
    "No, my Lady," he replied. "I won't do that."
    "It's the law, Oskatat," she insisted. "A Murgo woman who dishonors her husband is to be put to death immediately."
    "Oh, sit down, mother," Urgit said, abstractedly gnawing at one of his knuckles. "This is no time for histrionics."
    Silk's eyes were a bit wild. "You're very quick, Liselle," he said in a strained voice.
    "Not really," she admitted. "I should have guessed quite some time ago. You and his Majesty could almost use each other for shaving mirrors, and he negotiates almost as shrewdly as you do." She looked at the stunned Murgo King, her