Charles stared at Simon, his eyes huge and thick veins standing out in his temples. Simon stared back, keeping himself outwardly calm, but inwardly exulting in his new freedom. _There is nothing I need prove to this man or to anyone else. I am myself._ The last bond of loyalty between himself and Charles d'Anjou was broken. The silence stretched on, until it seemed to Simon that this was the longest moment of his life. Charles blinked and let out several long breaths. "Ah, well. As God is my witness, you and my brother are two of a kind. You deserve each other." He shook his arms, which he had been holding rigid at his sides, and reached up and tapped the crown down more firmly on his head. _He lumps me with King Louis. He does not know the great honor he does me._ Charles said, "I hope, for the sake of what we have been to each other, that you will be discreet about what I have said to you. If you visit my brother when you go back to France, you must not cause ill will between him and me." "I doubt that even if I wished to I could cause bad feeling between you," Simon said. "He has known you all your life, and if he has not broken with you by now, it must be because he loves you too much." He turned abruptly and left Charles standing alone on his little hill. The star swung at his neck, and he thought of going back and throwing it at Charles's feet. But, no, he decided he would keep it, and honor Manfred's memory. The grief of these two days still darkened his world, but there was one small brightness. He might not have accomplished anything to liberate the Holy Land, but he had freed himself from Charles d'Anjou. * * * * * It hurt Simon to see Sophia's face. Her eyelids were red and puffed. Her cheeks were hollow and her lips pale. She was still beautiful, but it was a sorrowful beauty, like that of a grieving Madonna. "I see you are wearing Manfred's star," Sophia said. "Forgive me." He felt a flash of hatred for himself. How stupid of him! She must think he was wearing it like a captured trophy. He said, "Charles gave it to me. I swear to you, I mean no disrespect to Manfred. Just the opposite. It must hurt you to see it. How thoughtless of me! Anjou insisted on my putting it around my neck just now. I am only going to keep it safe in memory of Manfred, not wear it. Let me take it off." _You are babbling_, he told himself. _Be still._ "No," she said, touching his hand lightly, briefly. "No one has a better right to wear it than you." Simon said, "I want you to know this--Daoud succeeded." "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.