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father cared naught for such matters. His chamber is on the floor below. He moved there after my grandmother died and gave this apartment to me. You are quite correct, Madam. We had much ado to gain his permission to place a simple bed and a comfortable chair in his chamber. But he loved my grandmother. He loved her as knights in romances love their ladies. If she had desired the moon to garnish her chamber, he would have grown wings to fly and bring it down for her." |
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"Love." The Queen's voice was absolutely flat, so devoid of expression that Alinor was surprised. "Did you know, child, that I was once called the Queen of Love and thatoh, many, many years ago in the clear air of PoitiersI presided over Courts of Love. Child, love is for books of romance, not for great ladies who need to make blood bonds and to cement the borders of estates." |
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Alinor's heart checked and her throat tightened. For a long moment the two pairs of dark eyes locked. Then Alinor shook her head. "Then I will never be a great lady." |
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"Great ladies are born. It is not a matter of their choice." |
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Fear flowered in Alinor's eyes and was burned out by a blaze of determination. Her lips had started to tremble, but they firmed and her little round chin suddenly looked surprisingly prominent. She dropped into a curtsy, but her head was lifted proudly. |
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"It is too late for me to learn your wisdom in this matter. From the time I knew aught, I have lived with a knight and his lady whose love lit and warmed the dark hall on winter's nights. Madam, my example comes not from any book of romance. My grandparents walked and breathed; they kissed and quarreled. This I must have, and I will seek it with the point of my knife in a bad husband's heart if I can find it no other way." |
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To Alinor's surprise, the Queen neither blasted her |
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