“It’s quite clear,” said the Tilth man. He reached for the scroll. “Shall I read it to you?”
“Don’t bother,” I told him as Hands rerolled the scroll. “What’s written there is as plain as what’s not. Prince Regal has signed it. But Cliff is not his horse. He, and the mares and gelding, are Buckkeep horses. Only the King may sell them.”
“King-in-Waiting Verity is away. Prince Regal acts in his stead now.”
I put a restraining hand on Hands’s shoulder. “King-in-Waiting Verity is indeed away. But King Shrewd is not. Nor is Queen-in-Waiting Kettricken. One of those must sign to sell a horse from Buckkeep stable.”
Lance snatched his scroll back, examined the signature for himself. “Well, Prince Regal’s mark should be good enough for you, with Verity away. After all, everyone knows the old King is not in his right mind most of the time. And Kettricken is, well … not of the family. Really. So, with Verity gone, Regal is-”
“Prince.” I spoke the word crisply. “To say less of him would be treason. As it would be to say he were king. Or queen. When he is not.”
I let the implied threat settle into his mind. I would not directly accuse him of treason, for then he would have to die for it. Not even a pompous ass like Lance deserved to die just for parroting what his master had no doubt spoken aloud. I watched his eyes grow wide.
“I meant nothing ….”
“And no harm is done,” I filled in. “As long as you remember one cannot buy a horse from a man who doesn’t own it. And these are Buckkeep horses, owned by the King.”