"Of course, my dear..." her voice turned to a whisper then. "...sweet  girl." Hoping that the term of endearment would help sooth her. Grief could do many things, and that vulnerability was part of it all. One arm wrapped around the princess, she moved past the Ritter Hex with a glare that could sharpen daggers. And they'd worried she would have told everyone? By saying things they way they had, everyone was jumping to the wrong conclusions. But it was still not her place to contradict them.<br/><br/>"Go heat water for a warm bath", she ordered one of the servants. While HonorÃ¨ may not have been in charge here, there was something commanding about her presence, and she did seem in charge of the princess at the moment. She waited until they were away from the room, and on the way to hers before speaking. "Don't be upset, sweet girl. Your father is very ill, but he is not dead... Please..." she tilted Diane's head up, and brushed away her tears with the pads of her thumbs.<br/><br/>"It'll be alright. I'm here and I have no intention of going away any time soon.." a hint perhaps of things to come, but nothing that she could say out loud to anyone else.