Love Potion #9 Read Free Page A

her lips, an ancient rumor echoing in her thoughts. Could it be true? Dritta would know. “It is whispered that there is a way to immortality.”
    Dritta nodded, her eyes bright. “I do not know the secret, child, or on your mother’s memory I would share it with you.” She leaned closer, her brow nearly touching Lilith’s own. “But there are others, others who know different secrets than we do. With your Gift, you can find them, learn what they know, prepare yourself.”
    Lilith was shocked. “But I cannot leave the kumpania !”
    Dritta sighed, a sad sound. “You cannot stay, child.”
    Lilith noticed only now that the rest of her Rom family lingered in the shadows behind Dritta, watchful, silent as birds. There was a new wariness in their gazes, and their expressions reminded her of how they watched the gadje . Her uncle was no longer alone in that.
    She understood that they had sheltered her in defiance of the gadje . And in so doing, they had risked their lives. Any affection Lilith had known here, any old obligation to her mother, was gone. The only debt owing was her own. She had been judged.
    She was mahrime . Polluted. Unclean. She had been intimate with a man not of her own kind, not of the true blood, not tacho rat . She was tainted.
    Love was nothing compared to that.
    And through no fault of his own, Sebastian left her doubly shamed – due to his death, he had not rendered the bride price to Lilith’s kumpania for taking her maidenhead.
    It did not matter that Lilith had surrendered it willingly. She stood and surveyed the others, recognizing that her choice had cost her the only family she had ever known.
    It was a high price to pay for love, but Lilith had no regrets. She could never have denied the passionate touch of the man she loved. If nothing else, she had those golden moments to treasure until – if? – she and Sebastian found each other once more.
    â€œYou must leave,” Dritta said, her tone resolute. “You are of us no longer.”
    Lilith lifted her chin. Even knowing this was the way things had always been done did not take the sting from the wound. Her own family denied her. The cast her out to the four winds and left her open to any fate. Their disregard made her deeply angry.
    But she could deny them in return.
    Knowing how they loved a tale, she would give them no story of her stormy departure to recount in the years ahead. She would leave silently.
    And she would continue to deny them, as they denied her, for every day and night that remained of her life.
    She would never forget this rejection. For this one deed, they would forget everything that had been between them, all the things she had done for them, all the bonds that bound them together. Lilith did not care if it was the Way; it would be her way no longer.
    â€œYou are right,” she told Dritta proudly. “I will leave the kumpania . From this moment, I am not Rom .”
    â€œYou will always be Rom .”
    â€œNo. I choose to be Rom no longer.”
    Dritta shook her head. “It is in your blood, child. Who you are will follow you.”
    â€œI will not let it.” Lilith stared at the others for a long moment, noting the distrust in those eyes. “Do not fear my taint, you who have been my brothers’ and sisters. I will leave this very night.”
    If she’s hoped for an argument, Lilith did not get one. Indeed, their relief was tangible.
    So be it.
    Lilith turned away, only the sight of a rare tear on Dritta’s cheek making her pause.
    Dritta reached to touch Lilith’s cheek, then kissed her gently. “ Bahtalo drom , child,” she whispered, so softly that none of the others could hear her words.
    Lucky road. There would be no second chances.
    It was farewell forever.
    Lilith plucked the Fool card from Dritta’s hand, then turned away, her heart aching. She did not know where she would go, where she would find