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Prologue

He came to her in drearay eyes filled with quiet desperation and a silent plea for help

Was he real, this dark-skinned e sketched froination, a phantohttireen forest dappled by shirant with the aroma of a thousand exotic ferns and flowers She heard the joyful songs of birds praising the birth of a new day, the distant whisper of a waterfall tu over stones

Deeper and deeper she penetrated into the heart of the emerald forest, her footsteps muffled by a thick carpet of pine needles as she explored this strange neorld that was so different froraceful way along a narrow path, a pair of red-tailed squirrels chasing each other across the forest floor, a bird with bright yellow pluhtly from tree to tree

And then she saw hiaze e of stature, his s accentuated by the gauzy white shirt and tight buff-colored breeches that he wore

His eyes were gray, the color of clouds on a winter day; his hair fell to his waist, as deep and black as the Caves of Mouldour His skin was the color of dark honey, sht; his cheekbones pro and square

His lips were fir now, it made her wish that he was a e conjured from the fathomless depths of sleep

He caesture of welcome; but still, in his eyes, she saw the same silent plea for help And yet, how could she help him when she couldn&039;t help herself?

"Lady" His voice was deep and rich, like chocolate velvet

"I&039;," she called "Wait for e faded, like an old painting left too long in the sun, and then he was gone froht

"Your name," she murmured sadly "I don&039;t even know your na her to the ugliness of her prison cell and a pillow soaked with her tears