The woman stood gracefully while the King looked her up and down. Today she was dressed like a lady, had her hair neatly braided around her head, and she presented herself cordially as though she had been born to a life of nobility. The king hardly recognized her as the same woman the bishop had dragged in two days earlier. He admitted to himself that she was a very comely woman, and had the duke not already claimed her for himself, he would have been inclined to invite her to his own bed. He liked her direct and uncompromising stare.
“Well my dear,” he said slowly, lowering himself into his chair. No one else in the room could sit until the king was seated. “My advisor has informed me of all that has transpired against you.” He considered her seriously. For a woman that had su
