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e0f113f
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Eleanor's greatest grievance was not a simpering lass with flaxen hair and smooth skin. It was Aquitaine, always Aquitaine.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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30b3e4b
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Apparently too much candour can become tedious, or so Lady Emma tells me.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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f2a996c
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Here I was, rushing off to save my little brother from pirates, only to find that he fancies being a pirate himself!
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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6cd0851
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A pity you were not born a woman in this life, Little King of Lesser Land, for you seek only to please and to be admired by all.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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dafb41f
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He was dying as he'd lived, and that made it so much harder for those who loved him. But then she remembered what she'd been told about his father's wretched last hours. After learning that John had betrayed him, he'd turned his face to the wall and had not spoken again. Only as his fever burned higher had he cried out, "Shame upon a conquered king." An anguished epitaph for a life that had once held such bright promise. No, better that Ric..
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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1c73b09
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Brother Euddogwy did not know how to respond to that, for only the Angevins would see a rebellion as an opportunity for brotherly bonding.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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2df4875
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Sensible men were not eager to submit themselves to the Judgement of the Almighty, and a decisive battle seemed to prove that the victor had God on his side. Most people preferred not to put the Lord's Favour to such a stringent, conclusive test.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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4c3cad4
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And it is not in any of our interests to have the balance of power turned on its head like this. An overly mighty French king is no improvement over an overly mighty English one.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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cc4493a
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Between the two of us, we've got a family tree rooted in Hell!
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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b42162d
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Yes, there were good memories, too, thirty-seven years of good and bad. Quarrels and reconciliations. Eight cradles and too many gravestones and Rosamund Clifford and power that rivalled Caesar's, an empire that stretched from the Scots border to the Mediterranean Sea.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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9980cd3
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Men always think God favors their cause. I am sure Ya'qub of Aleppo never doubted it, either.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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a3ccd3e
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War was war and soldiers were the same the world over, although killing came easier to some than others.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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50e3d90
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For whatever reasons--which had never interested him in his youth but which he sometimes pondered as an adult--the Angevin House had always taken Cain and Abel as role models.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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a65aaa9
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in turn, had agreed to end the continuing
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7b38e0c
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Rumors are the easiest of all crops to tend, Richard. You need only sow a few seeds about and in no time at all, you'll reap a harvest of hatred.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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44a1fd5
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Now our poor Gib never had a sense of humor to lose...
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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1f43857
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Yesterday I heard some of the castle servants talking about a funeral for one of the stable lads. He went skating last week on the pond in the village, but the ice was not thick enough and he drowned. I like to skate on the ice,too, Papa, have my own pair of bone skates. I could drown crossing the Channel as Uncle Robert fears... or I could drown back in Angers, if I was unlucky like that stable lad." Geoffrey's mouth twitched. "God help me..
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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03616e8
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But such was her faith in Simon that it colored her faith in God; unable to conceive of defeat, she never doubted that the Lord, too, willed Simon to win, and falling asleep in Simon's arms, she did not dread the morrow, so secure was she in the strength of her yesterdays.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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396983f
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If, like the Romans, he must make a desert and call it peace, so be it.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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a9c03ec
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Edward Plantagenet is no man to hold cheaply. Far better to take him at his own inflated estimation!
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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9d567ee
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You asked what the Londoners wanted of you, and he...he said 'ballocks.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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7021cbe
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They had gathered at Eastcheap to wait. At this time of day, the marketplace ought to have been thronged with people looking for bargains, moving from stall to stall, examining the fresh fish, choosing the plumpest hens, buying candles and pepper and needles. The stalls were open, but the fishmongers and cordwainers and butchers were doing no business, despite the growing crowd. The sun was hot, flies were thick, and the odors pungent; no o..
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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2329a0b
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The scene in the great hall was a raucous one, a cheerful melange of knights, minstrels, servants, disreputable-looking women, and dogs, who were dicing, performing bawdy songs, responding to cries for wine, laughing shrilly, and barking.
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party
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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8c5df76
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In the past few months, life had lost its sweetness and he'd lost his way. But no longer. Death was once again the enemy, his indifference and apathy drowned in a Cheshire pond.
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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60ba6f5
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In my life, I've been both the besieged and the besieged, and I know damned well which I prefer!
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besiege
besieged
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Sharon Kay Penman |
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4d3cd4b
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for he of all men knew how dangerously stubborn Henry Fitz Empress could be. There were faint bloodstains upon the tiles in Canterbury Cathedral testifying to that.
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Sharon Kay Penman |