King Javan's Year

The young King Alroy was dying, and so the power-hungry former Regents began their plotting anew. They conspired to immure the rightful successor, the Deryni-sympathizing Prince Javan, in the monastery where he had taken holy vows. The younger, more malleable Rhys Michael would then be the next king, with their blessing.
But Javan turned out to be a far more formidable opponent than the Regents could ever have imagined. Already the Deryni-like powers bequeathed to the Haldane kings were stirring in him. Javan was determined to claim his rightful crown and to restore justice to a kingdom in which Deryni were murdered, or used for their powers while their families' lives were held as hostage.
To wrest back control of Gwynedd, the Regents would stop at nothing. They tortured Javan's supporters, made secret deals with Gwynedd's enemies abroad, and even used the unsuspecting Rhys Michael as a pawn in their evil game. The former Regents committed the full force of every political alliance they had cemented during the princes' minority, plus the might of the fanatical new Custodes religious order, to keep Javan from ever becoming a true ruler.
To prevail against the Regents, to rule his kingdom justly, and even to live, Javan would have to be strong. He would have to be clever. And he would have to be very lucky indeed.