Person showing loyalty — one, say, to be embraced by old lover (8)
I believe the answer is:
liegeman
'person' is the definition.
(liegeman is a kind of person)
'one say to be embraced by old lover' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'say' becomes 'eg'.
'to be embraced by' indicates putting letters inside.
'old lover' becomes 'leman' (I've seen this before).
'i'+'eg'='ieg'
'ieg' placed within 'leman' is 'LIEGEMAN'.
'showing loyalty' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for liegeman that I've seen before include "Loyal follower" , "Person serving lord" , "Vassal, subject" , "A loyal person" .)