CHAPTER NINETEEN
With Ember sitting on his shoulder, Royce followed Earl Undine into a hall where dozens of people sat eating around tables, feasting on the products of the latest hunt and on malted bread, small beer, and grains. Most of the figures there appeared to be knights similar to Sir Bolis and Sir Simeon, but there were many other men and women clustered around the tables.
“You will sit with me at the high table,” Earl Undine said, gesturing to a table set above the others on a dais at the end of the hall. Earl Undine’s seat there was obvious, massive and carved, making his status clear. He gestured for Royce to take the seat on his right, while on his left…
“Royce, this is my daughter, Olivia. Olivia, this is Royce. We believe he may be Philip’s son.”
The girl who sat there w
