Prince Daniel is a fervent Christian, and you wonder if he recognizes something biblical in his peculiar misery. His wife was made pregnant, and so his son is not quite his son. Perhaps Prince Daniel imagines himself a modern Joseph, nobly tasked with protecting the son of God. Perhaps he is simply older than he once was, and tired. “I’ll try to be worthy of you, Judith,” he tells his wife, long-absent from his bed but perhaps not from his heart.
His father the King has harsher words. He quotes Ecclesiastes and tells Prince Daniel: “For everything, there is a reason, and a time for every purpose under the sun. A time to love. A time to hate. A time of war. A time of peace. This is the time of war.” Prince Daniel looks at his father and sees only an old man. For Prince Daniel, it has alway
