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conversation to a different topic," she said. "What non-arousing subjects did you and the countess speak of when you fled to Anjou? And in the two years during? For certain, you never discussed anything that wasn't perfectly innocent. What could have filled your thoughts two years ago? The decision of the Lateran Council, forbidding clerics from issuing an order of execution? Forbidding them to bless the water and hot iron used in torture?" She nodded, her lips tilted in amusement. "Such would be fine conversation between a lady and a knight."
    "We spoke of the barons' rebellion," he said slowly, certain it was true but unable to remember her position aside from the demure support of her husband. Pleasantries, such as I am certain my lord will prevail and I trust my lord will do what is right had fallen from her lips many a time, with no indication that she possessed a real understanding of the rebellion. At the time, he had found her unquestioning support a sign of true love and devotion; now he wondered if she had simply been so young the situation had bewildered her, and his own youth had hidden her lack of understanding.
    "And what did you say of the barons' rebellion?" Lilith did not seem interested in his answer; she pushed her food around with her fingers, and Hugh noted absently that aside from a few tiny bites, she had not consumed much at all. Hardly enough to maintain her bulk. Perhaps she was a woman who had meals sent to her later, when no one could observe her gluttony.
    But no, that did not fit. He could not imagine her hiding any sin. She flaunted her faults.
    He might as well flaunt his. In a low voice, he said, "I thought they should have dragged Lackland to a platform and hanged him."
    Her head jerked up, and she stared at him in surprise. "You said such to her?"
    "Nay." He glanced up at the dais, where Lady Isabel sat next to her husband, smiling sweetly at him. D'Aulnoy appeared utterly enraptured by his young bride. "But his tyranny should have been halted with more than a document that he had no intention of honoring."
    "He was forced into signing," Lilith said. "By barons who had only their own interests at heart."
    "Better the interests of many be served than the selfishness of one. His wars would have taken all, from all."
    Lilith lifted a shoulder. "He was king. The barons' duty was to serve him." She slid a sliver of capon into her mouth.
    "He was king. His duty was to serve and protect his subjects."
    Licking a trail of almond milk from her bottom lip, she raised an eyebrow, her expression one of obvious doubt. "So, if a ruler is selfish his subjects may remove him from his throne?"
    "Aye," he said. "And if there is no other course to remove a tyrant, then what other option but death?"
    She smiled. "You are bloodthirsty, demanding the head of a king whose offenses are not truly terrible. I think you must carry the opinions of your liege, for were you older, you would know what Lackland did was not truly tyranny."
    He flushed. Had he not thought the same thing of Lady Isabel a moment ago—that she was too young for understanding? True, the countess was a woman and should not have a head for such things, but he was only two years her senior.
    "And who determines his selfishness? Those who benefit from his removal?" She waved a hand at the dais. "A boy rules now," she continued. "There can be no more selfish creature than a child. And he is hardly competent but for those around him… who happened to advise the return of Essex's holdings. Do you approve of his leadership because you benefit from it as well?"
    His color deepened. Did she twist his words to suggest that he would execute a boy king? That his acceptance of an incompetent ruler was only because he'd been able to return to Fordham Castle? "If a ruler is just, whether it be due to advisors or no, then all benefit, and his removal will not be necessary or called for."
    Her laugh took on a brittle edge, as if echoing against something hard