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6f9741f
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Simon said nothing, thinking of all the good men who'd died because this inept, faithless fool had been born a King's son.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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3ec2b76
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You must try to understand, my dearest one. It was not treason, was but a dream bred before its time, that the King should not be accountable only to God. No mortal man ought to be entrusted with power such as that, for any king's son may be born a fool.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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29b5a3e
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for each age interprets the past in the light of its own biases.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7771178
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She found it ironic that, even after marrying twice and raising four sons to manhood, the workings of the male brain remained such a mystery to her.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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0939ef5
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The day that he accused a reigning King of murder was the day he signed his own death warrant, and he knew it.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7db8664
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He supposed he'd always known he would not make old bones. Scriptures spoke plainly enough on that. For all they that take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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03b8c65
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I know you do not care much for such revelries, but trust me--this one you will enjoy, Harry. You and I will sit at the high table, eating porpoise and swan, whilst we watch my male kinfolk eating humble pie!
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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08258b4
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I am not going to let him win, Guillaume. Not this time. I could not keep him from making my mother pay the price for our failed rebellion. Fifteen years she has been his prisoner, fifteen years! And she is his prisoner, for all that she no longer wants for a queen's comforts. I have had to submit to his demands and subject myself to his whims and endure the indignity of having him brandish the crown before me as he would tease a dog with a..
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royal-family
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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e7fcad7
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John, watching in dismay, saw his great chance slipping through his fingers, and he swung around to demand of his father, "Papa, does this mean Richard has bested you and Aquitaine is lost?" Eleanor winced, Geoffrey rolled his eyes, and Henry gave his youngest a look John had never gotten from him before. "My life would have been much more peaceful if I'd had only daughters," he snapped. "As for Aquitaine, it is yours if you can take it."
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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ff9e9ed
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The last time Ranulf had run into Sulien, the older man had called him a misbegotten English Judas and spat onto the ground at his feet. Yet now that same man was approaching the bed with a jovial smile, so apparently pleased to see the Judas again that Ranulf half-expected him to announce that a fatted calf had been killed in his honor.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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e1bb665
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Ranulf had spent much of his life watching those he loved wrestle with the seductive, lethal lure of kingship. It had proved the ruination of his cousin Stephen, a good man who had not made a good king. For his sister Maude, it had been an unrequited love affair, a passion she could neither capture nor renounce. For Hywel, it had been an illusion, a golden glow ever shimmering along the horizon. He believed that his nephew had come the clos..
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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dff1585
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just ridden
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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b9bb0b9
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De Mortimer was willing to wager his hopes for salvation that self-interest was the one drink no man refused, but he had never understood why most men must sweeten it so lavishly ere they could swallow it.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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e7c1ce7
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if a man is a fool to wed for love, he must be utterly daft to wed for lust. No one with sense would expect a candle to burn forever, so why should a flame kindled in bed?
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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dff19ba
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Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7a52d0f
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Ned never argued with their father, he was unfailingly polite and then nonchalantly went his own way; whereas, he, Edmund, deferred dutifully to his father's authority and then found himself resenting both his parent's austere discipline and his own reluctance to rebel.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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a503b59
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what an unfair advantage the dead had over the living, for there could be no rebuttal, no denial, nothing but the accusing silence of the grave.
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silence
wales
graves
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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23deb6f
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I would look dreadful in black.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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b2cb141
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Richard forced him from his sickbed, broke his power, his pride. But you, John, you broke his heart. I truly wonder which be the greater sin.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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57b03e5
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In a contest of wills between John and his mother, he did not think John would prevail, indeed he hoped he would not. But he did not care to be a witness to their confrontation; he suspected Eleanor's methods would be neither maternal nor merciful.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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e6c45e0
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Otherwise, I'd like nothing better than...conversing with you. You're such a deep, penetrating conversationalist, after all,
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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6c6d9fd
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back all he'd been
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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b67ee59
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A gain I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to men of skill but time and chance happen to them all.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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79d70b5
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Memory is merciful, Joanna, more so than man. It fades past pain, yet holds bright the colors in recalled joy.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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ff81cb5
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Marriage was a Sacrament, yet these festivities more often resembled pagan rites than Christian nuptials.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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83ef5af
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I asked Simon if he'd ever feared that all our struggles, all our suffering might be in vain. Not a priest's question, and he shamed me by his answer, by the shining certainty of his faith. He said no, my lady, and then he told me of a cave he'd found whilst in the Holy Land. It was said to have magical powers; a man could shout and long after it had died away, it echoed back as if from the very bowels of the earth. Simon had so marveled at..
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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367d52e
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As wretched as she was, she wanted Harry to be miserable, too. And yet, she was aware of an underlying sense of sadness. Theirs may have been the first war in which there were no winners, only losers.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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6ad4be5
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Hal and Richard show all the good will of Cain and Abel.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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5459687
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Will did not think that was fair, but he accepted that kings were often unfair and there was naught to be done about it.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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5e2737a
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As they lay entwined together afterwards, they both were sure their future was blessed, and it would never have occurred to them that Henry and Eleanor had once believed that, too.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7b0727a
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Soldiers have many vices, but vanity is not amongst them. How could it be? What man is going to worry about his hair when he might lose his head?
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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ecd1f6e
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Statecraft and kingship were not for the faint of heart
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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c83483f
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Eleanor had followed Richard, marveling, as always, at the male inability to speak the language of the heart. "One day I hope to understand why men see sentiment as the ultimate enemy," she said dryly, "but I'll not be holding my breath until it happens."
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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25da8ed
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An intimate enemy, death, capricious and cruel, ultimately invincible.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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b412911
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What is a thing worth, if it comes with no risk?
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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1661133
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He could not change his nature, could not help being cautious, deliberate, introspective, not traits to be scorned by any means, but traits that seemed dull, bland--even to him--when compared with Davydd's hell-for-leather dazzle.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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d71c6d9
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That may be infidel wisdom, but it is wisdom all the same.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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e6c80df
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Henry did not lack for physical courage; his was a moral cowardice.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7314433
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A man just realizing the fatal extent of his own folly was not likely to be all that rational.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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5344121
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There was even a small groundswell of sympathy for George, confined mainly among those who'd had no personal contact with him.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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f687553
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Mayhap not, but a king ought to be far-sighted enough to realize that if reforms are inevitable, better he be the one to carry them out.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7711aee
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And if Harry spun webs to make a spider proud, Eleanor could entangle archangels in her snares.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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3dd8fdf
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Yes, but it can be no condescension for the son of a count to serve the son of a king.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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b34a825
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A man worthy of Eleanor of Aquitaine ought not to be susceptible to fluttering lashes, flattery, and bedazzled adoration.
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Sharon Kay Penman |