“And the signs are good,” John of Hainault, a close companion of the King and the Lord of Beaumont, added. “The signs?” the King asked. John of Hainault gestured for a man in a black cloak to step forward. The man, who had a long white beard, bowed low. “The sun, sire,” he said, “is in conjunction with Mercury and opposite Saturn. Best of all, noble sire, Mars is in the house of Virgo. It spells victory, and could not be more propitious.” And how much gold, Philip wondered, had been paid to the astrologer to come up with that prophecy, yet he was also tempted by it. He thought it unwise to do
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