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"Soultheed when she turned twenty For various reasons, I hadn’t been able to come see her for a couple years At that tiest stretch of time we’d been apart since we’d met But at that point, it all just clicked We were both aware of the change, but I didn’t act on it, didn’t push it Those first couple years, I moved slow and cautious, because twenty is a ties, choices, and I never wanted to take anything away froh of that"
The bite of it was in his voice, but he quelled it Tonight wasn’t about that "But she never… the way she looks atThere you are You’re it And I feel the same hen I look at her Always have Even when I first hed, rose to lay her hand on his ar about you strikestype"
At twenty-two, Ruby had lost patience with his gallantry She ht into hiainst his Their very first real lovers’ kiss He’d ended up taking it over, his arainst the doorfra he wanted to feel was in that kiss When he finally lifted his head, she’d been breathless, flushed A smile reached all the way into her eyes, made them shine "Wow That left Billy in the dust"
He’d realized soe when he’d expected such life-altering surprises When she smiled like that, it was a reaction she had toward him alone Trust, faith Joy It swept hiratitude He’d found soer isolated and alone
Co back to the present, he knew that hat he’d et it back, because life wasn’t worth going on without it
"Better?" Linda asked
He laid his hand over hers on his arm, squeezed "Yeah Better Thanks"
When she stepped back, the aze reo The Lord and Lady wait Best not to keep them Come out when you’re ready"
When she left hiathering, both Light and Dark They kneas happening here tonight and, as Linda had pointed out, best not to keep thealow in the woods near the uesthouses After returning fro the rest of his day there in y It hy he hadn’t realized Ruby was still on the property He’d sione because he’d been such a bastard about it
As he eed, half of the coven was there to precede him down to the ritual site When Jocelyn came forward, he bent to accommodate her as she placed the antlered crown on his head, syy settled over him like a mantle As above, so below Like the Lord Himself, Derek knew there was just one essential co
Her The Goddess
As he walked down the path to the circle, the covenchants praising the Lord, asking for His power and strength as a hunter, as a protector, to safeguard the fault line When they e its way fro for her were shades of white, the color of the e and red, the colors of the sun
Linda and Christine waited at the North and South points of the circle An altar had been set up in the center, a sturdy oak table with a wide blue cloth on it, the veil for the Goddess He’d used a sic earlier in the day, after breakfast and before Mikhael, to move the heavy ritual object for the ladies The metal of the wine chalice and jewels in the hilt of the athaer was spread out in a fan shape between thelance to aze went back to Ruby As he drew closer, he lingered on her hair, loose on her shoulders The naturally streaked brown hair always reminded hiray-green color with a thick dark ring around the iris The ienerous bosoer than it looked
She’d never stopped being beautiful to him, but since they’d reunited, her beauty had been overshadowed by weariness, anger, lies, betrayal Tonight, the coven had truly prepared her, inside and out She was balanced, calh a cleansed aura, however temporary that was Divine power enhanced a woht out as already inside, since the Goddess was present in every fe not only at a vessel for the Goddess, but the woman he loved He could sense the calm mixed with an accelerated heartbeat, anticipation of what they would do tonight, drawing energy down into their bodies for the ritual’s purpose