Page 1 of Witch's Betrayal
Prologue
LILITH
Ikicked my feet leisurely in the stream, enjoying the cool, flowing water across my sun-kissed skin. The water shimmered in the sunlight and flickered with the movement of small fish in its depths.
Mud squished between my toes as I dug my feet in. Something skittered over my foot, a freshwater crab probably, and I giggled at the tickling sensation.
With a contented sigh, I leaned back until the soft cushion of grass met my spine and supported me gently. I closed my eyes and soaked in every pleasant sensation in my body.
By all accounts this place was paradise, but I knew my time here was limited. I wanted to enjoy the sun on my skin and the mud between my toes while I still could.
Fear created a knot in the pit of my stomach despite telling myself I had no reason to be afraid. The angel Ashtaroth said he would protect me from harm. He planned to leave Heaven and would take me with him.
When he came to me, after I ran away from another fight with my incompetent husband, I was practically blinded by how beautiful the angel was. Hair on his head like polished gold, eyes bright and blue as a lagoon, and a smooth face with perfect skin and an angular jaw. And of course, who could miss the massive wings on his back covered in dense, pure white feathers.
Adam told me about the angels, but I had never seen one before. His vague description and crude drawings in the mud did nothing to prepare me for the beautiful, ethereal creature of light in the flesh.
As magnificent and pure as the angel was, his body was what I kept picturing behind my eyelids at night while my husband fumbled and grunted while on top of me.
Like us, Ashtaroth was completely naked, but he looked nothing like the human man I was created for. He was taller by at least a full head, and muscles rippled across his body as if carved from a mountainside. As an angel, he was perfect.
My body grew hot at the sight of him. I wanted those massive arms to sweep me up in them, to feel those perfect lips on my skin. For the first time in my life, I felt what could only be the cardinal sin of lust.
And it frightened me. Adam told me it was forbidden for a woman to feel lust. At the time I didn't worry, because I never lusted for him and couldn't begin to know what that desire felt like. But the moment I laid eyes on Ashtaroth, I knew immediately.
I could be killed or exiled from the Garden for those feelings alone.
As I laid back on that grassy bank by the stream, I remembered Ashtaroth's words to me and called on them for strength.
"The world is dangerous outside the Garden," he told me. "If you will have me, I'll continue to guard you from harm until we find a safe haven of our own."
"Isn't that a betrayal?" I asked. "Won't He cast you out of heaven for helping me?"
"Yes, but I am prepared," he replied. "I have two allies and we have plans to create our own world with our own followers."
The Garden was the only home I'd ever known, and yet I wanted to escape more than anything. Adam constantly reminded me that I was created for the sole purpose of serving and obeying him, but the thought of such a life made me miserable. Would our creator really make that my purpose if I was unhappy?
He created both of us from dust. Did that not make us equals? I was happiest doing the same work as Adam, such as finding wood for our fire and hunting for food. I loved laughing and playing in the stream, but Adam always got angry and told me that was not appropriate for a woman. For him to be happy, I had to be quiet and do essentially nothing but wait around for him to bark orders at me.
If I didn't want to make children, he said he had every right to force me. Even when it hurt so badly, it brought tears to my eyes. When I cried out to the sky, asking our creator if this was what he truly meant for me, I received no answer.
We never could make any children. Adam said it was punishment for my disobedience.
My lonely cries went unanswered for years until Ashtaroth appeared before me.
"Why do you want to protect me?" I asked after a long silence.
His blue eyes flashed and his serious face gave way to the barest hint of a smile.
"Because you are the kind of woman humanity needs."
He vowed to be my guardian angel and promised to watch over me. Still, doubt swirled in my mind. Could I trust him? Was it a test from our creator?
Adam told me never to have doubt, never to ask questions. Faith in our creator was the answer to everything. The pursuit of knowledge was another sin. That never sat well with me either. In my head, I was always asking questions but at this point, I didn't dare voice them out loud.
I kept them in my head where no one else could reach.
Unsurprisingly, my moment of peace by the stream was interrupted by a foot kicking me in the thigh.
