< previous page page_30 next page >

Page 30
to be your friend," he said seriously. "I want to be your husband. This is not the time or place for passionate declarations, so I speak lightly, but I have never said those words to any woman and I haveas you saidknown many."
"In the names of Danu and Anu, if this is not a jestwhy?"
"I do not know," Simon replied with perfect honesty. "I only know that I felt for you, while you were singing, and feel now, what I have never felt before."
Rhiannon took his hand and held it between hers. "Today, you feel; tomorrow, you will forget. It was the strangeness of my song and my dress, perhaps. Love comes and goes, but friendship endures."
"Both endure when they are true. It is an easy enough matter to prove. Let me attend you. If I weary of your company, I will soon drift away from it."
There was a silence while Rhiannon seemed to consider this proposition. Simon could not read her expression; her green eyes were empty as clear water. After a moment she smiled very slightly and said, "Very well, since that is your desire, and because you amuse me. But I warn you now that I do not believe I will ever marry any man. To give my heart and soul into another's keepingno! Now I have warned you. If you wish to play with fire, do not cry when you are burnt."

There was neither winner nor loser of the challenges exchangedor, rather, both lost and won equally. Simon attended Rhiannon at court and escorted her to Angharad's Hall, her mother's home, which left him open-mouthed in surprise. It was just as Rhiannon had named it, a hall, built of wood, much like a large barn but with windows and hearths, hard to find but otherwise indefensible. Later, in the early spring, Simon took her to Dinas Emrys.
That she should come alone to his keep, without a

 
< previous page page_30 next page >