Runa knit her brows and heard him in silence. But after a while she said:
“Had the King sent an embassy to me with these words, it may be that I should have listened. But he sent me only a summons to surrender.”
The next day she sent for him again and said: “If I give up my city and submit myself to the King, what am I then—I who was Runa of Or?”
“You will be high in the King’s counsel and in his love,” he answered.
“I do not covet the King’s love,” said Runa, knitting her brows again.
“You do not know what it is, madam,” he said softly.
On the fifth day she sent for him again, and privately, and said to him:
“If I give up my city and submit myself to the King, and there is peace in the kingdom such as there has not been since the day my father Count Theobald ruled in Or, what will the King do?”
“He will enrich the kingdom, and make it fair and secure it against all foes.”
“And what will you do?” she asked.