In Deryni Checkmate, shortly after Alaric Morgan learns of the deaths of Kevin and Bronwyn, Alaric says:
And Kevin -- he wasn't even Deryni, yet he died too. All because of this senseless hatred, this differentness.
Kevin died because Rimmel was infatuated with Bronwyn and got Bethane the shepherdess to make some kind of magic charm for him, which backfired and killed Kevin and Bronwyn.
What did this have to do with hatred/persecution of Deryni?
After thinking this over for a while and discussing it a bit, I have a suggestion along different lines -- the answer may lie in Bethane's past.
The story, "Bethane", in The Deryni Archives, has a flashback about her life as a young woman. She was seventeen and expecting her first. Her husband (Darrell) was Deryni. Deryni had been teaching Deryni children secretly, but were betrayed. The children were to be burned. Lord Barrett De Laney exposed himself as Deryni and offered himself in exchange for the children. His offer was accepted. He was blinded with a hot poker. Then Bethane's husband rescued him, but was himself killed (shot with arrows). The child was stillborn. The aftermath, described a bit later in the story:
And their own child, stillborn in the awful after-anguish following Darrell's death; and then, a long, long time that she lay sick and despondent at Saint Luke's, not caring if she lived or died, and something had snapped inside, never to be mended...
Her husband's death, and thus her partial madness, was definitely due to the Deryni persecutions. If Darrell had lived, and she had remained sane, there would have been no "holy shepherdess" for Rimmell to turn to.
On the other hand, Alaric did not know this whole backstory. He did know, however, that Darrell had been Deryni and died trying to save someone else Deryni, IIRC, in the short exchange between the child Alaric and Bethane (from the same story):
"I'm sorry, Darrell," she sobbed, crushing her lover's ring against her lips. "I'm sorry. Oh, forgive me, my love. Please forgive me, my love, my life . . . "
<I've left out a bit of description but no dialogue>
"You know what I am, don't you?" he asked, his voice hardly more than a whisper.
At her not, the grey eyes shuttered for an instant, then turned back on her again.
"This Darrell--was he killed by a Deryni?"
She shook her head, stifling a sob. "No," she whispered. "He was Deryni, and died to save another of his kind."
"I think I understand," the boy replied, with a preternaturally wise nod.
Note that Alaric was eight at the time of this story; it was many years before Deryni Checkmate.
To counter the suggestion that the answer is that Bethane is Deryni, it is absolutely not clear that Bethane was Deryni. The author implies not, in a chat in 2001 logged on this forum
Here is the relevant excerpt ("KK" is the author. Emphasis mine): [18:00] Also, Bethany's charm was not purely Deryni--so Bronwyn didn't recognize her danger until it was too late. [18:00] I think she was just taken by surprise, and acted without thinking by screaming for Kevin.... [18:00] Can't answer that yet, Kiri. [18:01] *** Golux Quit (Connection reset by peer) [18:01] <Kiri`> i'm really wondering if Kennth approved.. [18:01] So, is Bethane of some other magical heritage, like Warin de Gray? Maybe from those strange northerners?
As far as I see in the transcript, the question in the last line I quoted, was not answered by the author.
In light of this discussion, Nezz asked the author (Thank you Nezz!). I'm adding here, the information which was added in a comment:
Well, I figured our best bet was to go straight to the source and ask directly here. Relevant part (edited for clarity): KK, would you consider answering one of our burning questions about a character? Is Bethane Deryni, or does she get her magic some other way? I think she was probably Deryni, or at lest part Deryni. – Nezz Is there some other way for people to do magic that's not deryni-based? We know that half breed Deryni that show any power are still Deryni. So good answer. There are the Border folk who know warding lore of their own, and gifts like dowsing. Of their own. Still could be from Deryni bood.
So it is still an open question, even after consulting the author, whether or not Bethane was of Deryni blood.
My guess is it went back to Bethane herself. We know that she and her husband Darrell were both Deryni. Darrell was an educated man, and it stands to reason that, if the anti-Deryni persecution hadn't intervened in Bethane's life and killed her husband and child, she would have been educated and trained in the use of her powers at least minimally. Instead, she took refuge in the hills around Culdi and used her bare understanding of her powers to make the kinds of charms and trinkets that didn't really frighten anyone.
Obviously Alaric didn't know the details of Bethane's history, but he could probably guess at a backstory that made her fear people, made it impossible for her to seek training, therefor leaving her open to the dangers of untrained spell-workings. If she'd been trained, then Kevin would not have died. He might have lost his beloved because of a spell, but that's a different issue entirely and wouldn't have been based on Deryni persecution.
