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Page 489
Before she could ask, he had run down the tower stair and spoken to the guardsmen there. Alinor bit her lips and fought to hold back her tears. He would not defy her. The drawbridge began its creaking and groaning descent, the portcullis went up. Alinor stood on the walls, staring. There is my rival, she thought, but she does not deserve him. I will not allow her to take him and lead him off to be slaughtered by the youngest of the monsters to spring from her womb. All impulse to weep left her. She did not know what she would do, but she came down the stairs to be near.
First, as usual, the palfrey stepped on the bridge, paced over it and under the portcullis. As the Queen rode in, an iron hand gripped her bridle; two men-at-arms with quarrels set into their bows blocked the path of the gentlemen that followed. Before they could recover from their surprise the portcullis crashed down. The Queen looked down into Simon's face. His eyes glittered with unshed tears, but his mouth was hard.
"I have come to the end of my service, Madam," he announced. "My life is nothing. It was laid at your feet a hundred times, a thousand, but you will make no plaything of Alinor for your son's pleasure nor for any other purposenot for the good of the realm, not for the good of God, not if I must set the whole world afire."
The Queen looked at Alinor now just beyond her husband. There were no tears in those eyes. They flamed gold and green in their depths. Unable to help herself, the Queen smiled. That one would enjoy setting the world afire and laugh while it burned. So had she felt herselfforty years ago. She sighed.
"Do not be a fool, Simon. Let my people in. I mean you and Alinor no harm. John has left for France. I have news." She smiled wryly. "A strange thing has come to pass when a Queen, knowing her liegeman will not come to her summoning, goes to him. I need help, Simon. I have news of Richard."

 
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