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PROLOGUE

London Three years earlier

IT WAS SIX AM when Lily woke, thanks to her internal alarenetic quirk that aloke her at this hour She knew she wouldn’t be able to snuggle down and have another half-hour under the duvet, but for a few h the thin layer that separated sleep from full wakefulness

On the plus side she was never late and it was a what you could achieve in that quiet hour or so before the rest of the world, or at least her loud neighbour in the adjoining flat, woke

She silenced the tedious inner voice that insisted on seeing the bright side of everything with a scowl and pushed the heavy swathe of tangled curls fro there with one arm curved above her head, she focused on her justified resentment of people who could roll over and fall back to sleep Normal people who overslept, even her oin, Lara, who, it was no exaggeration to say, could sleep through an earthquake But no, not her, everyit was the same oldsame old

Only it wasn’t

A fresh furrow appeared between her delicately delineated brows as a re was different, but what?

Had she actually overslept?

Eyes closed, she reached out for her phone on the bedside table Patting her hand flat, she hit a couple of unfalanced at the screen and read the predictable and unsociable hour She clutched the phone to her chest—naked chest! Was that relevant? she wondered as she hitched the sheet up over her shoulders No, the so different was not the time or her naked state

So as it?

She looked around This was not her room

The belated recognition hit her as she struggled to focus Her entire body felt as though she’d just run a marathon—not that she ever had or in all probability ever would But last nightlast night!