to her face.

"He is no coward."

He looked at her with weary eyes and a tight little smile. "Well, then.
He will want to see you again. Send a message to him. Have him meet you
someplace other than here. Someplace where he will feel safe. A church,
perhaps."

"A church. Yes, that is a good suggestion. Then you will not have to
wonder what we are doing."

"From what I have heard of Christian churches, that is not necessarily
true."

She wished she had the skull to throw at him again. That was all that
poor young knight would soon be--a skull, buried in the earth.

"How dare you insult the religion you were born into?" she shouted.
"Have you forgotten that I am a Christian?"

He glared at her, turned on his heel, and slammed the door behind him.

Feeling alone, unloved, and desolate, not even sure who she was, Sophia
sat heavily on her bed. Sobs racked her chest, one after the other. Not
willing to admit how much Daoud had hurt her, she struggled with her
tears for a time, then gave in and threw herself full length on the bed,
pain spreading through her body.

XXXV

"Is it not a sin, Father, to explore a man's body like that?"

"It is considered a crime in many places. But it is not a sin when it is
done with reverence, to discover the truth."

Watching Friar Mathieu, Simon felt his stomach rebel. The old priest
bent over the long naked form of Alain de Pirenne, stretched out on
Simon's bed, wielding a freshly sharpened carving knife borrowed from
the Monaldeschi kitchen. The knife flashed in the light of the many
candles set around the bed as Friar Mathieu enlarged the wound in
Alain's belly. Simon kept looking away and then staring back,
fascinated.

"It hurts me to see you treat Alain so," said Simon. "Though I know you
mean to do good."

"My brother Franciscan, Friar Roger of Oxford, says that if you want to
know God, you must look as closely as possible at His works. He says
that to read the book of God's creation is better than reading
philosophy, and is a form of prayer."

"Philosophy. Yes," said Simon. "I learned last night that Fra Tomasso
d'Aquino is an enemy."

"One moment." Friar Mathieu had tripled the width of the lower wound and
was now pulling the lips of the gash apart, peering intently into it. If
Alain had been alive, Simon knew, blood would have been pouring out of
that incision.

Sickened, Simon turned away. He wondered if he could sleep again in this
bed, knowing tha