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"What are you …?"

"Hold still," he said

And then in one sweeping motion, tore the shirt in half

Mericlou had been about to become utterly mortified She had been prepared to screas and worse, had it not been for what she saw afterwards

She stood fully clothed … evendress of the ant and expensive azines and on the video ether She wore a gown fit for a queen, ossaht as spider's webbing

Through the mirror that Aldrec had formed from the wall beside the door, Mericlou saw that the dress flowed around her body in soft hues of carnation pink, lavender, and sky blue It was cut low at the chest and shoulders and was bound firant folds to the floor Her hands were cloaked in soft gloves of pink lace, and her feet wore velvet shoes that hinted at purple Her ringlets of green hair had been restyled using clipped rose ste prominently atop her head Even her black leather choker necklace was now pure gold, and with the jewel he had given her set into its center, where the a his handiwork "By the maker …!" Was all that Mericlou could say, once she could find a voice to speak And even this was uneven and wobbled

"I take it you're impressed," he replied, and then turned the doorknob "Ladies first"

Slowly, Mericlou walked through the rune-covered doorway, and stopped

The chapel resembled the temple in Gheed, but on a , spiraling columns and rafters There were only a couple of pews, and there was a white marble altar shaped in a semicircle at its front Gold candelabras were set at the room's four corners, but the il that was painted into the stained glass of the skylight above The old, and blue through the only other , behind the altar

"Come, Tulyr," Aldrec said

His voice sounded farther away, although it should not have After all, he had been right behind her when she came in