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it is very amusing that it is foretold so differently for me on each side of the border. My family sent me here because they believed I could not be content with the tame ways of Sussex. Now you tell me I will soon tire of the wild ways of Wales. I do not think so. I do not think I will ever wish to leave my lands, except for some small times to be with those I love." |
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"You are too young to know what you believe," Rhiannon said sharply, as if she were trying to convince herself. |
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"Ah, grandmother," Simon teased, "your gray hair and wrinkles make me sure the wisdom of great age infuses the words you speak. How old are you, Rhiannon? Sixteen? Seventeen?" |
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"I am one and twenty, and women are always older than men." She paused, bit her lip, and said even more sharply, "And when did I so shame myself that I have descended from Lady Rhiannon to Rhiannon alone?" |
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"I beg your pardon, my lady." Simon bowed deeply and without mockery, but his eyes still twinkled with mischief. "No affront was intended. You so enchanted me with your time-won knowledge of men that for a moment I lost my sense of propriety and spoke as a man to his loved one, without formality." |
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"You never had a grain of propriety to lose," Rhiannon snapped, but the corners of her mouth turned upward. "Do you not know it is highly improper to ask a woman's age? And do not bother to find another smooth reply. I am not your beloved" |
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"Yes, you are," Simon interrupted. "You may refuse to love me, but you cannot stop me from loving you." |
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At which point, Rhiannon gave in and began to laugh again. She put out her hand. "Come, let us be friends. I would like to be the friend of a man who does not fear the voices in the winds around Dinas Emrys, and who has firmly decided he is in love with me after half an hour's acquaintance." |
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But Simon would not take her hand. "I do not wish |
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