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Lilith, now dressed in a flowing eown, stood in the corner of the palace’s ballroom with her mother and an older loved hands nervously together, shooting fleeting glances at the dancing couples around the roo doarlow upon the revelers beneath

"They have arrived," Lilith’s father said, pointing to two h the entrance Lilith and her parents stared at the ht blond hair and grayish eyes, and the saer blond ht of her They weaved their way through the crowd and arrived in front of Lilith and her parents

The father held out a hand to Lilith’s father "Meet my son, Crispian," he said

Lilith’s parents shook hands with Crispian, but Lilith seeaze Her eyes were fixed on her feet Her ed her and only then did she raise her eyes to look briefly at Crispian She held out her hand, allowing Crispian to take it and kiss the back of it

"Would you care to dance?" Crispian asked

Lilith glanced up at herblond man smiled, while Lilith’s eyes reuided her toward the dance floor

Surfacing once again, I didn’t bother to opento ulp

The sun shone overhead, the warht blush to Lilith’s pale cheeks She stood in the center of a rose garden wearing a white wedding dress She pulled the veil down over her face, fixing her gaze straight ahead at the flower-covered gazebo just beyond the garden Crowds of witches were settling themselves into the rows of seats in front of a raised platform at the back of the shelter

White rose petals had been scattered on the ground to for from where Lilith stood up to the platforray outfit

Lilith began to room Her knuckles hite as she clutched a bouquet of flowers Her lips for the platfored vows, Lilith’s voice was shaky Crispian looked down at her adoringly, slipping a ring on to her finger and pushing his lips against hers

Then the scene faded away, being replaceddress--and Crispian stood together in the center, surrounded by a circle of red candles Crispian had his arainst his chest They swayed gently from side to side Then Crispian ainst hi it open He rolled her sleeves down her shoulders, discarding the dress, before deftly cutting away her undergar her bare for her long legs beneath her, she obeyed

Crispian knelt on the floor next to her and picked up one of the candles He swirled it around gently, loosening so his hand into her hair, he tilted her head backward and dripped a thin line of the red wax fro her up in his arms, he carried her over to the circular bed and laid her down before proceeding to undress hian to make love to her, Lilith’s eyes remained distant

I took another sip of potion…

Lilith wore a black cloak, her hood pulled up as she ran along one of The Sanctuary’s cobblestone roads Her breathing was heavy and uneven as she ran She didn’t slon until she’d exited the city, passed through the suburbs, and arrived at the beach She collapsed to her knees, digging her hands into the sand

"No," she whispered to herself, her face contorted with anguish "I can’t leave again"

She looked around, as if scared that soered to her feet and approached the ocean She bent down and splashed water over her face She bit down on her lower lip, shaking her head furiously as though she was having an argument with herself She seemed to lose her own battle, because barely h and vanished When she ain, she appeared to be in the le ray of thecanopy above Nevertheless, she launched into a sprint, racing harder and harder until the trees began thinning

Soon she reached the end of the forest and found herself standing in a grassy clearing at the edge of a cliff Her face shining with sweat, her eyes wide, she looked around She whirled around at the sound of a snapping twig

"So you came" A deep voice spoke from the darkness of the trees behind her A tallLike Lilith, he wore a long cloak, his hood pulled up over his face I could barely ht blue eyes Lilith reht of thethe distance between the cropped black hair

"I shouldn’t have colistened in the witch’s eyes

Passion ignited in the ainst hi her lips Lilith flinched at first, but then she eased into his e herself closer His large hands traveled down her back, one resting on her right hip while the other bunched up the heh Breathless, she gripped his hand and stopped it fro any further