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Page 325
Simon. In secret Alinor alternately raged and wept, but there was nothing more she could do.
As February waned into March, they were delayed two weeks in Lodi by a meeting with Henry of Hohenstaufen. The Queen would have been glad to avoid him, but news had come to Henry of Richard's acknowledgment of Tancred as King of Sicily. The Queen did what she could, but it was little enough. Henry desired assurances she could not give him, and at last she had to go on, knowing she had left an enemy behind her.
At long last, at the very end of March, they reached Brindisi where a stout ship was waiting to bring them to Reggio. Richard was there to meet them, and by the hand he led one of the loveliest women Alinor had ever seen. Her hair was not so black as Alinor's; it had a warmer hint of brown. Her eyes were darker and more velvety; if Joanna had a temper red lights would waken in their depths instead of brilliant sparks of gold and green. No rage lit Joanna's eyes now, and happiness gave a warmth to her olive complexion so that her whole face glowed.
She and the Queen fell into each other's arms. Although she had been so long gone from her mother that the Queen would not have known Joanna by sight nor would Joanna have known her mother, they were not really strangers. Letters of news and advice had crossed and recrossed sea, mountains, and plains. Alinor had agonized with Joanna over her inability to bear William an heir, and Joanna had wept bitterly over her mother's imprisonment. Alinor watched the joyful reunion with a tear-choked throat. She herself was an affectionate person bred up by grandparents full of love. It was impossible to hate that warm and glowing creature who now turned her soft, dark eyes on Berengaria and embraced her and called her "sister." Then Richard came forward and kissed Berengaria's hand and embraced her gently.
Alinor looked away. It was true Richard could not

 
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