"Lord Eagle," the gray-haired and immaculately dressed retainer said, bowing modestly when Prince Henri made his way over to him. "I apologize for interrupting your evening," he said smoothly as he straightened. "But your father requests your presence at your earliest convenience."
Of course, when the king requested his son's presence at Henri's 'earliest convenience,' it was a polite way of saying that nothing but the most sensitive or critical of matters should delay his son in returning to his side, but a tenured retainer like Pierron would never be so crass as to express himself that way.
"Just me?" Henri asked as he glanced out at the dance floor, where a first-year student of the academy in an elaborately decorated hawk mask found himself the center of attention for several giggling young ladies demanding that the young lord favor them with the next dance.
