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Page 369
but their light did not reach so far. Simon began to sit up; Alinor's hand held hïm still.
"Rest, beloved. Let me hold you for this little while."
The love in the voice was plain, but Simon could not tell whether it hid hurt or anger, and the words were no guide. "Do not believe me altogether at fault for what I did. I am no saint, but I am no lecher either."
That brought a low laugh. "So much I know. For lechery, usually you are hastier to run away than to seize an offered opportunity. Therefore was I worried when I saw you so changed. Is the trouble past, Simon? I do not care what you did when I was absent, but I do not trust myself to be so understanding when I am by."
"I think so. The King has sworn that he will marry Berengaria at the first opportunity, and I believe him. In any case, I will not tread the path to the stews again."
The conjunction of the King's marriage and the path to the whorehouses finally clarified the matter for Alinor. A man who loved womanflesh to the extent that Simon had exhibited was an unlikely partner in unnatural vice. Moreover, since he was known to sleep always in the King's chamber, it was equally unlikely that any other shameful partner could be invited to the King's bed. And if men believed that some of the whores Simon paid had served a higher purpose than hiswhy, that was no shame, a mere peccadillo. A confession, an ave and a pater and one was absolved. Clever, loyal Simon, Alinor thought, and bent to kiss him.
Her lips fell awry in the dark, touching the side of his jaw where the flesh was ridged and knotted by an old scar. She moved her mouth and found his and they kissed. Richard's voice filled their silence:
"Twyfold hauberk doth he don
Firmly braced the helmet on

 
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