rs--it has been nearly
three years--you have taken part in great affairs and you have added to
your reputation and restored luster to your family name. You have led
your Gobignon vassals to a victory that has brought them glory and
riches. You have, I tell you again, won my lifelong gratitude. Why
separate yourself from all that now? By what you did yesterday you wiped
out the stain on your family name. Your father betrayed his king and his
crusader comrades, but now you have won a victory for a crusade and
saved the life of a king."

_Yes, but how different those crusades, and how different those kings._

He kept reminding himself that Manfred was an enemy of the pope and
Daoud an enemy of Christendom, but the thought haunted him that through
him great men and a noble kingdom had fallen. Again and again he tried
to push out of his mind the idea that he had been wrong to come here and
fight on the side of Anjou. But he knew it would remain with him,
troubling him, for the rest of his life.

"If you want to show gratitude to me, Sire, the one favor I ask is that
you not press me to stay."

Charles fumbled in a heavy purse at his belt and drew out a long silver
chain. He held it out to Simon.

"Here. I want you to have this, at least."

Simon bowed gravely and held out his hand. Attached to the chain was a
five-pointed star with a large, round ruby in its center.

"Beautiful. Thank you very much, Sire."

"It was Manfred's. He prized it highly, I am told. Called it his 'star
of destiny.' You earned it, I think, by giving me victory yesterday. I
hope it brings you a better destiny than it did him."

Uneasily, feeling that the star was property stolen from a dead man,
Simon took it. He unbuckled the purse at his belt to drop it in.

"Put it on," Charles urged.

Reluctantly, Simon hung the star around his neck.

"I will treasure it," he said tonelessly.

"It is little enough. If you will only consider staying with me, you
will share in spoils that will make that look like a trinket. City by
city I am going to take over not just this kingdom but northern Italy
too. I will unite all of Italy. The Papacy will be solidly under French
control. And then Constantinople. I bought the title of Emperor of
Constantinople from Baldwin II when he fled to Paris after Michael
Paleologos deposed him."

The name of Michael Paleologos was like a blow to Simon's stomach.
Probably it was no more than a name to Charles, but Simon