"What do you mean--succeeded how?"
They stood just outside the walls of Benevento by the side of the road
leading to the south. A group of Charles's men-at-arms, past whom Simon
had just escorted Sophia and her friends, lounged before the gate.
"Last night I suspected it, but this morning I talked to Anjou, and now
I am certain. There will never be an alliance of Christians and Tartars.
Anjou never wanted it, and he will do everything in his power to prevent
it. It would interfere with his own ambitions."
Her amber eyes looked into his, and he felt the pain she was holding
rigidly at bay within herself.
Oh, God, those eyes! How he had dreamed of spending the rest of his life
in their gaze. Now, after today, he would never look into them again.