Accidental Surrogate for Alpha
I cringe away from him, not knowing what to do – not knowing which will be worse –
The God of Darkness stretches out his hand over me and the shadows begin to spill down from his fingers, surrounding me.
“A blessing,” he murmurs, “for the first granddaughter of the moon – from her benefactor. Long may she live, dwelling in darkness as well as light.”
The shadows, when they touch me, are soft – gentler than I imagined they’d be, like velvet or mist. When I breathe, they flow into me through my nose and my mouth. I gasp, worried – but the smoke, it tastes faintly of…of mint, and cool mornings, and it soothes my aching throat…