"Good morning, niece," Karl said as he looked up from his breakfast to see Clara strolling into the dining hall from the door at the far end.  He gestured to the plentiful display of food and drink laid out before him, then nodded to the only other chair currently positioned at the table that sat 24 and said with a polite tone, "Please sit … eat.  I have news I would like to discuss with you."

During her years of living under Karl's roof, Clara had been given a great deal of freedom by her uncle.  He'd made only three demands of her over that time: be safe, which essentially meant allowing him to send 2 Guardsmen with her everywhere she went; be respectful, which essentially meant not engaging with others in the never ending gossip about whether or not he had betrayed the Crown during the War of the Three Rivers; and be at breakfast every morning, which essentially meant she had to spend each and every night here in the castle in order to make an appearance in the dining room each morning as she was now.

So long as she followed these three simple rules, Clara was [I]free[/I] to do as she wished, if you could call that freedom.

"You had a good day yesterday, niece," Karl went on as he lathered a purple jelly across a thick slice of dark bread.  "Made some nice conversation."

It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement; each morning, he got a report from not only Clara's Bodyguards but from any number of [I]eyes and ears[/I] who tracked her every move and conversation within and without the walls of Black Rock Castle.  Karl's keeping tabs on his niece was mostly about his interest in whether or not she was involved in the continuing investigation of his loyalties during the war.  

Karl knew she heard things about him at some of the social events; he knew that she said things about him sometimes, too.  So far, though, he hadn't heard anything that concerned him too deeply.  He wasn't a stupid or careless man; if ever he feared that Clara's [I]investigations[/I] posed a serious threat he could simply kill her.  He'd done it with others already; he'd done it with [I]many[/I] others already.

But Karl was hesitant to kill his niece.  She was valuable to him as a political trading piece.  And, of course, she was nice to look at when she undressed for bed or bath.  No, Karl was less concerned about the waves Clara might make than he was about the loss he would suffer if he couldn't marry her off to a Noble who could help his cause … that cause being keeping his head attached to his body.

"I received a letter from the Capital yesterday," Karl began once Clara was sitting in the chair just one place to his left.  "The King's choice of a new Earl of Echo Valley is seeking a wife."

He hesitated to stuff a small piece of sausage into his mouth as he looked to Clara for her reaction.  He chewed and swallowed, then finished, "I have dispatched a message of my own … to the new Earl … suggesting that perhaps he might be interested in meeting the most beautiful young woman in all the Kingdom."