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But the hs softly "She’s so beautiful"

"Go!" says Anne suddenly, caught by that voice "Leave the body Ito retreat to salve their wounds Meria Rothaide, Severus lioes as well, not without two or three backward glances at Anne The butterflies have begun to return, fluttering around her like winged jewels

Then Anne is alone with the corpse and thewith his back to her, who has not, apparently, heard her command to the others

"Bernard," she says softly

Surprised to hear his name, he turns

Ai, God, it is Da, but so e and, by all appearances, a few years younger than Anne Liath never kneas handsome She never really understood how olden-brown skin and her salaic he expended to hide her scarred and diminished him This is the fearless man, face shaven and hair trimmed in the manner of a frater, alked ardently into the heathen lands of the east without once looking over his shoulder But that was all before her birth, before their flight, before that day when, by crippling her, he crippled himself

Liath never understood until this instant, seeing Anne’s expression, how much Anne hated him because he is beautiful to her eyes She never understood until this instant how much power Da had, and how he shone, as lulint of sarcasm in his eyes She only remembered him, only had memories of him, from after the fear had sucked him dry

"Bernard," Anne repeats, "you have been the thorn in h I know you have never cared about our work to save humankind from the threat of the Lost Ones I know you joined us only to satisfy your intellect and your curiosity We’ve suffered you all these years because of the strength of your gift, not for your loyalty to our goals But the time has come for you to be of use to me Can it be possible that you have at last seen a creature you desire er chases laughter chases longing across his expressive features He steps aside, and Liath sees what they have caught in a cage made not of iron bars but of threads like spider’s silk, billowing as the breeze h the creature bound byShe wears a woht as a blue-white sun, and her wings beat against the unbreakable white threads, but she is hopelessly trapped Heat boils off her, but the cage neutralizes these streamers of flame, and when she opens her mouth to scream, no sound comes out

"You can have her, Bernard, because I can see that you desire her But only if what transpires now remains a secret between you and ree will coles, Liath knows he will lose because he has fallen in love with the fire daimone, a creature so beyond s death

"How can this be?" he asks hoarsely "If it caused poor Hiltrudis’ death just to cast the binding spell, how can any flesh dare touch pure fire?" He raises an arm, then blushes, hot and red

"First we ive Hiltrudis’ body a proper burial and to seek a seventh to make whole our number There are certain spells known to ht so that her substance will not burn you But it will be up to you to win her acquiescence" She eyes hiet free "None of this comes without a price"

"What , because desire has trapped hiuise of a wohest sphere, the soul of a star He will agree to anything, if only he can have her

Anne brushes a cinder, all that is left of a thread of saffron, off her sleeve "First, this sorcery eaken me I will be an invalid, and you must care for me until I recover Second, the others must believe that the child was made of my seed, not yours, that between us we freed this creature and captured another, a ht to coe Yet not just froitimately born To that end, you must marry me in a ceremony sanctioned by the church"

"Yes," he says absently, obviously too distracted as he stares at the daiic in this proposal The wos and with apprehension and anger survey her prison