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All this had been within her the whole time, in every instant of her every life Yet only now did Luce feel awake beyond her capacity to iht wind blew across her skin and she could feel the distant sea carried on it fro her she was still in Troy Her vision, too, was clearer than it had ever been before She saw brilliant dots of pigolden butterfly She breathed in the cold air, filling her lungs, s the zinc in the loa

"I was there," she whispered "I was in--" Heaven

But she couldn’t say it She knew too h to speak the words Daniel He would help her

Go on, his eyes were pleading

Where did she begin? She touched the locket with the picture taken when she and Daniel had lived in Milan

"When I visited an,

"I learned that our love ran deeper than ere in any single lifetime--"

"Yes," Daniel said "Our love transcends everything"

"Andwhen I visited Tibet, I learned that a single touch or kiss was not the trigger to my curse"

"Not touch" Roland’s voice He was s next to Daniel with his hands clasped behind his back "Not touch but self-awareness A level you weren’t ready for--until now"

"Yes" Luce touched her forehead There was an to speak more quickly "I was condemned to marry a man I didn’t love

And your kiss released lorious because ould always find each other again Forever"

"Together forever, whatever the weather," Arriane chi damp eyes on Roland’s shirtsleeve

By now Luce’s throat felt so tight it was difficult to speak But it was no longer sore "I didn’t realize until London that your curse was so o through, losing me--"

"It neverso round

"He would alait for you"

"Chichén Itzá" Luce closed her eyes "I learned that an angel’s glory could be deadly to mortals"

"Yes," Steven said "But you’re still here"

"Keep going, Luce" Francesca’s voice wasthan it had ever been at Shoreline

"Ancient China" She paused This one’s significance was different from the others "You showed me that our love was ave the faintest nod

And that hen Luce understood, not just who she was--but what it all added up to There was another lifetih the Announcers that Luce felt she had to mention She took a breath

Don’t think of Bill, she told herself You are not afraid

"When I was locked in the toypt, I knew once and for all that I would always choose your love" That hen the angels dropped to one knee, gazing up at her expectantly--all of thelowed the most potent shade of violet she had ever seen He reached for her, but before his hands h!" Luce cried out as a sharp pain sliced through her back Her body convulsed with a foreign, piercing sensation Her eyes teared Her ears rang She thought she ht be sick froony all over her back, into two small sections at the tops of her shoulder blades

Was she bleeding? She reached back, over her shoulder The wound felt tender and raw, and also as if so drawn out fro Panicked, she whirled her head around but she could see nothing, could only hear the sound of skin sliding and being stretched, the thrrrrrp that sounded like new enerated

Then cahts had been strapped around her shoulders

And then--in her peripheral vision, vast billohiteness on either side of her as a collective gasp rose froels’ lips

"Oh, Lucinda," Daniel whispered, his hand covering his s

They were luht, made of the finest, span was maybe thirty feet, but they felt vast, endless She felt no ers curled around the base of them behind her shoulders, they were several inches thick and plush They were silver, yet not silver, like the surface of a mirror They were inconceivable; they were inevitable

They were her wings

They contained every ounce of strength and empow-erment she had amassed over the htest whian to beat

Her first thought: I can do anything now

Wordlessly, she and Daniel reached for one another’s hands Their wing tips arched forward in a kind of kiss, like the angels’ wings on the Qayo, and soon, they were kissing

"So?" he asked