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tion in his chest that made his voice breathless. "How did she come to give you such a promise?" |
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"Mostly for what I just said. You know well that as long as I am single my revenues go to the Crown. But partly I think she believed me when I told her that I would search an unwanted husband's heart for love with the point of a knife. And, if my knife should prove too short, there would be many, longer and sharper, to complete my work." She moved her horse forward so that she could lay her hand over his. "Simon, my grandfather did not leave me naked in a cold world. Ten years he labored to build an edifice that would protect me." |
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"Your vassals might wish to protect you, but they cannot fight the whole realm." |
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"Of course not, but I do not think it would be necessary. The last thing the Queen would desire with Lord Richard bent upon Crusade is for my men to begin a minor war because I was ill-pleased with the husband chosen for me. Besides, she does not wish me to marry. She prefers that my revenues come into the King's purse. The two Isobels are a different case. They have long been King's wards and, I fear, their wardens were not so honest or so honorable as you. Their people cry aloud for relief from rapacious wardens; the women cry for the end of wardship, and Lord Richard is constrained to right his father's wrongs. |
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"The Queen did speak to you of these matters." Simon was amazed. Queen Alinor did not suffer from an idly wagging tongue. |
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"Yes, because she needed to speak about something else which she dared not. Simon, something about Lord Richard lies heavy on his mother's heart. It is not about the Crusade. She is quick enough to speak of her fears of that, and how she came near to losing her own life more than once on that dreadful journey. It is somethingsomething" |
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