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Page 10
"I see that. I see what you have decided is best, but. . . . Oh, mother, are you sure there will be war between Llewelyn and the king? Llewelyn has not really done anything to offend John, and he is married to John's daughter."
"Since when is it necessary to do something in order to offend King John?" Alinor asked tartly. "It is enough that Llewelyn has gained what John considers too much power." Then she bit her lip. "That is not fair. I like Llewelyn and dislike the king, and that was my heart speaking. In truth, even Ian agrees that John is not all wrong this time. Llewelyn has eaten nearly all Wales. There can be little doubt that he will next begin nibbling on the borders of England unless he has a sharp lesson. It is all the more dangerous because he is a good lord. Men are none so unwilling to swear to him instead of to the king.''
"Would it be so ill if Llewelyn ruled England?"
"Not ill, just not possible. He has not the right. There are still men of honor in this land who would oppose himPembroke, Salisbury, Arundel, Ian, too, no matter how much he loves his clan brother. John has the right to rule England; Llewelyn has not. To a good man right and honoras I have often told youhave nothing to do with best and easiest. Sometimes, by accident, they coincide; that is all."
"Yet you have persuaded Ian to do what is best and easiesthave you not?"
Alinor's hazel eyes lit with anger. "Do you impugn Ian's honor or courage?"
Joanna did not seem to notice the danger signal of green and gold sparks in her mother's eyes. She shook her head. "No. I was not thinking of that at all, only how love can make a personmake a person different from what is his nature."
There was a moment's silence while Alinor absorbed what her daughter had said. "I suppose that is true," she admitted slowly, "but a true love does not permit bending that love's partner all awry."
"Instead one tears out one's own heart."

 
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