>To be perfectly fair, Werner's family does have a legitimate
>grievance here. They were promised a very influential connection with
>the Crown and then had the rug pulled out at the last minute for what
>seems to them to be extremely spurious reasons.
>
>That doesn't excuse the boy's vile personal conduct toward a blameless
>member of the bride's family - it was a clear example of punching
>downward - but his motivation for doing so is not entirely
>without foundation.
>

To say nothing of the fact that His Majesty knows that you don't just pull this kind of change-up on a ally in the court without some sort of compensation. I'm sure his former bride-to-be's family would have some concessions handed their way (royal appointments, juicy national business contracts, that sort of thing) by way of consolation. Fritz may have been a bit of an idiot when it came to courting Hannalore, but he's clearly a competent monarch and politician. (That bit of rubbernecking with the faux-Neuroi and the rocket soldiers notwithstanding.)

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."