I happened to reread "Cynan presses his point home" today, and I took note of the fact that Alred said:

"Matilda’s daughters shall not marry until they are old enough to know their hearts, and so in love that they will beg me to give them away."

Notice he didn't say my daughters. Was that intentional? Dare we read anything into that?

Well, for now Hetty and Alred don't have any daughters, and the question of any future daughter's marriage is thus at least 15 or so years away. It's impossible to predict how he will feel about Hetty 15 years from now when I don't even know how he feels about her NOW.

The question, I guess, is: does Alred put Gwynn and Meggie on a higher plane because they are Matilda's daughters? Or is he just respecting the oath he swore to Matilda, about HER daughters, even if it is not what he would have done himself? Or is he a doting romantic of a dad who couldn't bear to force any of his little girls into a marriage not of their choosing?

I would be inclined to say that he is too much of a romantic to do it to any of his daughters -- but he seemed fairly at peace with the idea of forcing Brit to marry Dunstan. I mean, he sort of kind of gave her a choice, but not really. He was splendid with Brit that day, but he was still expecting her to do her duty and marry Dunstan.

And of course he was quite adamant when it came to Dunstan protesting that he didn't want to marry Brit. Granted, a man is likely to have more sentimental thoughts about his precious daughters, but he obviously isn't against arranged marriages.

So I am not sure.

And maybe Hetty WILL ask him that one day, and he would be a cad to refuse, wouldn't he? "No, YOUR daughters aren't good enough, Hetty. Oh, and by the way, you have nothing to be worthy of such poems, Hetty."

As for Bruni... I am not sure what rights he has. I would assume he's effectively her father now, but let's just say that it MIGHT be possible for certain other people to claim a right to decide about her future. First of all, Anglo-Saxon widows aren't utterly bereft of legal rights for themselves and their children, and it may be that Hetty herself retains some say over Bruni's destiny, as her sole surviving parent. Bruni may also have some male relatives of her father who might demand a say. If Bruni inherits any land from her mother or father (Friedrich I mean) then there will be the usual political wrangling surrounding that -- alliances, keeping land in the family, that sort of thing.

Bruni's rights, inheritance, and future are actually going to be an important question in the coming months and years, so I am amused that you happened to bring her up.

And, for what it's worth, I do think Leof tends to play favorites with his kids. He loves all his runts so much that it scarcely matters, but it's clear that Cedric and Leia both occupy special thrones in his heart. For totally different reasons!