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These women who spoke and listened so eagerly might not run wild on the hills, but they were also free. It was in their voices and the bearing of their bodies and in the bright intelligence in their eyes. Then she saw the look Gilliane turned on her husband, and Rhiannon's throat tightened. They were not free, these women; they were enslaved as only a woman who had given her heart can be enslaved. |
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Adam had growled that it was a mistake to let the matter hang unsettled. "It is not enough that peace should be made between Pembroke and the king unless it is also made clear that Henry will no longer rule by decree. It would be better to continue the war, and I will say so and offer my support to Pembroke rather than see Henry discard Magna Carta." |
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Rhiannon saw terror flash in Gilliane's dark eyes, but she lowered them to a small piece of work in her lap and her voice was clear, sweet, and steady. "But Adam, there are better ways to make a man see reason than by beating him to death. From what Papa Ian has told us, it is Winchester who is at the root of the trouble. If Henry can be convinced that Peter des Roches is leading him wrongly, he will mend his ways without adding to the bitterness between him and his barons." |
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"It took near twenty years to prove to him that de Burgh was wrong," Adam remarked impatiently. "I do not care to contemplate twenty years of Winchester's rule." |
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"That is not fair," Geoffrey pointed out. "I felt as most others did, that de Burgh had grown too mighty and that he dropped too much into his-own purse. But mostly his rule was wise, and he certainly never bade the king cast aside the advice of his council." |
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"He worked in other ways," Alinor commented sardonically. |
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"Henry was furious with Winchester over the debacle at Usk," Joanna said thoughtfully. "But the bishop may |
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