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Page 166
"Little adder, if we were alone, I would make you regret those last words." Walter whispered.
"First a wasp and then an adder. No wonder you feel you must threaten me," Sybelle murmured, pushing her smiling lips into an adorable pout.
"Threat? What threat? That was a promise!" Walter exclaimed softly, and then laughed as Sybelle blushed.
He had the last word in that exchange because young Ian came up to them at the moment with goblets of hot, spiced wine, and another boy offered a tray of cheese, pasties, and bread. Sybelle and Walter were forced a trifle apart by the business of choosing what to eat and were then drawn into the general conversation. Soon after, there was a concerted move to leave the hall. Walter was relatively certain that it was initiated by William's urging of his indulgent grandfather and that it was still too early, but he had noticed Simon gesturing at him furtively, so he made no attempt to divert the group from their purpose.
As they walked toward the doorway and out, Simon and Walter both fell back so that they were the last to leave. "Efan came last night," Simon said. "I have some news for you. It is not urgent, but, I think, interesting. Not only are men still coming into Monmouth, but patrols have been out along the roads between that keep and both Usk and Abergavenny."
"Has Richard been told?" Walter asked.
"I will leave that to you," Simon replied. "Llewelyn knows, of course. If you can get free of Geoffrey and my father, you can talk to Efan yourself. There is no point in adding to the uneasiness they suffer by making our differences more plain. In any case, I do not believe you will learn any more from him than what I have already told you and what you already know. All signs in Monmouth still point to expectation of another attack on them."
"And if it does not come?"
Simon shrugged in answer. Whether he would have said more, Walter did not know, because both of them saw Geoffrey looking back toward them, and they moved forward more quickly, unwilling to give the appearance of wishing to be private. It was very awkward, Walter thought, to have political differences within a blood bond, particularly where there was love to cement the bond.

 
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