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Page 163
Danu also, Simon. I will pray for your safety."
"And I for yours, my lady. Rhiannon, you will go home to Kicva, will you not?"
"Yes, as soon as I can ride with comfort." She gave him her hand. "When you can come, you will find a welcome there."
Holding her hand, Simon bent forward and kissed her. After a moment, he pulled back with a sigh. Without saying any more, he lifted her again and carried her back to the entrance of the women's hall, setting her carefully on her feet.
"Fare thee well, Simon," she said softly, using the tender, intimate pronoun she had never offered him before.
"And thou also, my lady. Take care of thy well being. Thou hast in thy keeping my heart, and ill will befall me if it be lost."
"Simon" she cried, but he had turned and walked quickly away. I do not desire that burden," Rhiannon whispered, but there was no one to hear and she knew the protest was useless.
She had spoken without thinking and had given him by her use of thee a hope she should not have offered. It did not matter, she told herself. There was no way to prevent Simon from loving her except by making herself too foul for him to love. That was not a path she contemplated. Fiercely she reminded herself that she had warned him repeatedly that she was not responsible for either what he wanted or how he felt. Nonetheless, Mallt's dead body and Madog's outlawry reproached her for carelessness and thoughtlessness. It was useless to say that she had meant ho harm or that Mallt and Madog were worthless. She had been thoughtless and careless with Simon, too, and he certainly was not worthless.
Rhiannon sighed, hobbling cautiously back to her bed to rest. For the meantime, Simon's heart would

 
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