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what he desires is just, But I cannot raise my hand against my brotherI cannot!" |
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"No, indeed!" Simon and Adam said in unison. |
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The political implications were awful enough, but both had actually responded emotionally, unconsciously drawing closer together so that they touched. The foundation of life was that a man could trust his own blood kin and that the bond of blood outweighed even the oath of fealty. It did not matter whether you loved or hated your blood kin. The men of Roselynde were fortunate in being tied in love as well as in blood, but love was not essential and hatred usually had no effect on loosening the tie. |
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Of course, there had always been those unnatural creatures who violated the bond of blood. The Plantagenets were infamous for it, the sons turning on the father and then, when they had destroyed him, attacking each other. The horrible example of a land torn constantly with war, of betrayals and counterbetrayals, of honest men driven to extremity by the need to choose between two oaths of fealty rose before Adam's and Simon's eyes. They, too, might pray for Henry's early demise, but neither would encourage Richard to use force to curb his brother. |
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"Winchester must be mad!" Ian exclaimed when he heard Adam's recounting of what had happened at Wallingford. "Geoffrey is one of the sureties for Pembroke's freedom and the return of Usk." |
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"Winchester is not mad," Alinor said, "just desperate. He is no fool. He knows how Henry's nature works. He intends, I think, to show the king he is his only friend, that all others are faithless. If Geoffrey, his own cousin, sides with the 'rebel' Pembroke, Winchester can say this proves that no man is trustworthy and Henry must rule alone." |
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Geoffrey sat still and silent, his quick mind momentarily frozen by this dilemma. Joanna was white as milk. Their sons were in the king's service, close under |
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