Lilith blinked, dazed, and the spell was done. "Now, my dear," said Belboz kindly, "would you do me a favor and fetch me my best robe? It is hanging on that wall behind you." The girl's brow crinkled. But her feet moved. She turned and walked the several steps that took her to the place where the robe hung, moving with dreamlike slowness. When she returned and handed it to Belboz, there was panic in her eyes. "Thank you, my dear," Belboz said, smiling. He began to pull it on. "Now, answer me this: if I were to ask you to leap off the top of this mountain, would you do it?"
The wild light of panic did not fade from the girl's eyes, but she whispered, "Yes." Over the course of the next hour, Belboz gave Lilith the crash course in complete obedience. He had her cook a simple meal for him, stand on one leg for twenty minutes, hold her breath until she turned purple, and sing a lovely ballad for him. The orientation continued through their journey to the faraway kingdom, and by the time they arrived, when he asked anything of her, there was no alarm in her expression; just tiredness. The prince was pleased with Lilith's beauty and total compliance, and agreed to take her as his wife. She, of course, likewise agreed to take him as her husband.
They were wed, and Lilith put up nothing resembling a fight; she couldn't even find the energy to be truly bothered by the marriage. The first significant request the prince made of her after they became husband and wife was...
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