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been expected of him, and until he set eyes on Sybelle, he had led a carefree life, responsible for nothing beyond his small estate. Even after Geoffrey had told him that Roselynde and the honors beholden to it passed in the female line, Walter had not really thought about it, except to feel relief because Geoffrey was in the prime of his life and he had mistakenly believed it would be many years before the lands would be dropped into his hands. His attention had been on the civil war and on the property that had come to him upon his brother's death. |
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For one panic-stricken moment, Wafter was tempted to tear off Simon's gown, feeling as if the soft folds of silk were strangling him. Then Lady Alinor and Lord Ian turned and stepped apart, one to each side of him, and Walter saw Sybelle. The golden goddess, Llewelyn had called her, and Walter had raised a brow. Now his breath caught. |
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Her underdress was of golden silk, so finely finished that it shone like the metal; the outer gown was a darker gold and glittered with metallic thread. Her bronze hair outshone them both, hanging loose as bridal custom decreed, and falling over shoulders and back to midthigh. Topazes around her throat and in the circlet that held her hair glowed richly, but not so richly as her eyes. |
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For a frozen instant, Sybelle seemed as unreachable as a priceless image of a virgin saint, but then her warm, red lips curved upward in a smile and Walter remembered her body moving under his. Virgin, yesbut neither image nor saint. Certainly not saint, he thought, as a gentle prod from Lady Alinor, who had taken one arm, and Lord Ian, who had taken the other, urged him forward. The glow in Sybelle's eyes might be caused by fervor, but not for the delights of celibacy or of heaven, where it was said there was no marriage. |
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Walter was headed toward Sybelle, but a tug on one arm and a push on the other turned him to the right. He almost pulled away to maintain his direction toward his lodestar when he saw Geoffrey and Joanna fall in beside Sybelle as Alinor and Ian walked with him, and then the vassals form up behind. It was at that point in the proceedings that Walter realized they were headed for the chapel, and he remembered Geoffrey saying, "You may obtain Sybelle and Roselynde, but not one without the other." |
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The heavy jeweled hem of Simon's gown seemed to tangle |
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