As she poured I told her I had bidden Maredudd to sup with us, which seemed to please her. She picked Harri up again and a few dark curls were revealed where his coif had slipped. ‘He has his father’s hair,’ I remarked. ‘Do you remember Edmund’s dark mane, Jane?’

‘Of course, my lord, I remember everything about the time your father brought you and your brother to Tŷ Cerrig.’ Her expression was bland, unreadable, as she added, ‘One of you was handsome and the other was kind.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that what you thought? Which one was I?’

She gave me an enigmatic smile and turned towards the door. Over her shoulder she threw a parting reply. ‘You cannot expect me to answer that, my lord.’

Harri waved a chubby hand at me and I waved back. ‘Good night, Harri,’ I said, grateful for his change of mood. Perhaps I was not entirely the ogre-soldier after all. The door closed behind them and the poet and I raised our cups in salute and drank. ‘What do you say of Edmund in your song, Lewys? Handsome or kind?’

Lewys wiped his mouth on his sleeve. ‘I only present his deeds and reputation, my lord. I call him fearless but many people spoke of him as handsome.’

I took another gulp of wine and sat down in Jane’s vacated chair, gesturing Lewys back to the other. ‘So Jane must think I am kind,’ I sighed, stretching out my legs and feeling the wine’s effect flowing into my weary limbs. ‘I do not know many earls who would welcome that description.’

‘There are worse words,’ remarked Lewys. ‘For instance, tyrannous, or lecherous …’

‘You would not use such words in a praise-song though, surely?’

‘There are other types of poetry, my lord – but they are not the sort that earn food and drink.’ Lewys had shed his anxious look and his eyes were now twinkling. ‘And I get hungry.’

I laughed and slapped my thigh. ‘You are always hungry, Lewys. And by God now I am too. Where is Maredudd with the supper? And I need him to help me out of this armour.’