“My lord prince,” said Hanna, kneeling abruptly. Hathui, with a tight smile, remained standing, but she inclined her head respectfully. Then Hanna saw the Eika dog, and she recoiled, jumping back to stand beside the table.
“Fear not,” said Sanglant. “It doesn’t have enough strength to harm you.”
“Will it live?” asked Hathui softly.
“You may tell my father that I will nurse it as I am able, since it alone of all my possessions did not come to me through his power.”
Her eyes glinted. “Shall I tell him so in those exact words, my lord prince? I would humbly advise against it, while the king remains in such a humor toward you as he is this day.”
“Plainly spoken, Eagle. Say what you came to say to my wife. I will not interfere.”
Hathui nodded and began. “You ought to have ridden on with Wolfhere, Liath. How can you have traveled with the king’s progress for so many months and not seen what a pit of intrigue it is? How will you fare, here, with the king turned against you and the prince without support? What will you say when princes and nobles come to seek your favor, to gain the attention of the prince? There will always be supplicants at your door, and beggars and lepers and every kind of pauper and sick person, seeking healing, and noble ladies and lords who hope that your influence can give them audience with the king or his children—or who wish to sway the prince to their cause, whether it be just or no.”
Like Conrad. Liath picked up the comb that lay on the table. Such a simple thing to be so finely made. With its bone surface incised with a pair of twined dragons and trimmed with ivory and pearls set into the handle at either end, it marked Sanglant as a great prince who need not untangle his hair with sticks or a plain wood comb but only with something fashioned by a master craftsman.
Hathui went on. “Father Hugh stands accused of sorcery by Princess Theophanu, but if you are called upon to testify before the king against him, how will it fare with you when Margrave Judith’s anger is turned upon you? What if you are accused in your turn of sorcery? The king will never allow you to be recognized as Prince Sanglant’s wife. All that I have named above you will suffer without even the legal standing of wife but only that of concubine. Do you think an Eagle’s oath and freedom—beholden to no one but the king—a fair exchange for the bed of a prince?”
“Liath,” whispered Hanna, “are you sure this is wise?”