[Some time ago, he had been a weak man who had been played. Now he liked to think that he was far more alert to such antics; he was better prepared to know what Richard was capable of now that he had let the younger man in to be close to him. And perhaps it was par for the course that everyone he let close tried or succeeded in killing him.

He remained where he was as Richard weaved a new version of the tale of his father, and he had assumed that the man was a usurper. If anything, that fact earned a touch of respect from him, especially when a man dragged an entire family, city and country into that mess. It was not far off of his own rise.

His gaze shifted between Richard and the crate in question, and as the tale moved forward, his mind was deciding what was going to be in that box. There had been enough talk of that circle of light to him that he narrowed it down to two possibilities: Richard's father's head or the crown the man had been seeking and Richard had also taken from his own bloodkin.]

How scandalous. Someone thinking third in line for the throne is the best choice and working to provide such an outcome. [That's how succession worked by his measure and the books he had read.] He needed you to accomplish that audacity though; you share blood with the King.