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He thought, in the diht of the public house, she was like a flame that burned at shadows
Two servants had arranged for a private roo had silenced the talk and the music But her eyes, blue as a summer sky, had met his Only his
When one of the servants had coain, walked to him and announced that the lady requested he dine with her, he hadn’t hesitated
Why would he?
He ood-natured co with, but he left theht
She stood in firelight and candlelight, already pouring wine into cups
“I’ree to join me I hate to dine alone, don’t you?” She caraceful she almost seemed to float “I’m called Lilith” And she handed him wine
In her speech there was so exotic, some cadence of speech that hinted of hot sand and riotous bloo vines So he was already half seduced, and completely enchanted
They shared the sih he had no appetite for food It was her words he devoured She spoke of the lands to which she had traveled, those which he’d only read of She had walked aht, had ridden the hills of Rome and stood in the ruined temples of Greece
He had never traveled beyond Ireland, and her words, the i as she herself
He thought she was young to have done so much, but when he said as much she only smiled over the rim of her cup
“What good are worlds,” she asked, “if you don’t make use of them? I’ll make use of much more Wine to be drunk, food to be tasted, lands to be explored You’re young,” she said with a slow and knowing smile, “to settle for so little Have you no wish to see beyond what you’ve seen?”
“I thought perhaps to take a year when I’m able, to see more of the world”
“A year?” With a light laugh, she snapped her fingers “That is a year Nothing, a blink of time What would you do if you had an eternity of time?” Her eyes seemed like depthless blue seas as she leaned toward him “What would you do with it?”
Without waiting for his answer, she rose, leaving the trail of her scent behind as she walked to the sainst the skin” She turned back with a gleaht creature And so, I think, are you We, such as we, are at our best in the dark”