Daniel continued to seethe about the criticism this new paper had leveled at him. Even though he would never admit it to anyone else, he realized that it was true that he had been unable to quell the civil unrest using his own resources and had to go to the Curia for help. He hated to do it; more so because it made him vulnerable to granting the church favors in return. “Which is exactly what has landed me in the predicament I am in … being forced to marry their new saint,” he acknowledged to himself. He continued to muse. “I know that I have done things which upset the citizens, but then, I don’t really care about what they think of me! I am their king … they just need to obey me!”
Daniel was sitting in the solarium at the end of the hall of the wing of the castle where his priv
