Lyssena considered Erevos good.
At first, that conclusion had been simple: he was a god, and gods were not meant to be bad.
But then again, the other gods had never listened to her prayers, not even when she had never lied, never sinned, never allowed herself to stray from the narrow path laid before her. They had remained silent.
Erevos had not.
She was confused but also thinking more deeply than she ever had before.
Erevos was good because . . . well, for one, he had saved her from an abusive husband. He had shown her the true faces of those who had betrayed her. He had given her a life filled with wonder, a world where she could finally breathe without fearpressing against her ribs. He was gentle with her. He stopped when she felt uncomfortable. He listened.
He cared.
And yet, all that thinking led her to a conclusion forming slowly in her mind. She could add another mission to her growing list.
This one would be simple in concept, though perhaps not in execution.
She would test whether her Erevos was truly good.
Lyssena did not remember when she fell asleep.
Sleep must have taken her quietly, pulling her under without dreams, because when she opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was the rich, mouthwatering scent of roasted meat and warm spices drifting through the air.
Her stomach rumbled painfully, and her head felt heavy. She felt terrible.
And so very hungry.
When she pushed herself upright, she moved first toward the table where a glass of water had been left waiting for her. She lifted it with eager fingers and drank greedily, finishing nearly the entire glass in one long swallow before she even paused to breathe. The coolness slid down her throat and settled into her empty stomach.
She set the cup back down and turned toward the wardrobe, still half-wondering whether more gowns would be waiting inside.
There were.
When she opened the doors, she found three more gowns hanging within, and every single one of them was made of shadow. Lyssena brushed her fingers over the material, marveling at its smoothness, at the way it yielded slightly beneath her touch, and she could not help but think that Erevos was very talented.
As far as she could tell, it might have been two days since she had left home.
Two mornings without prayer.
Two mornings without the temple.
Back in the village, every morning had begun the same way: the people gathering beneath the pale light of dawn, bowing their heads together in gratitude for whatever the gods had chosen to give them.
“What if my prayer was so strong I summoned the Greatest?” she murmured aloud, smiling at her own absurd joke before turning away and leaving the wardrobe doors open.
She still did not know how she intended to behave when she stood face to face with Erevos again.
But she knew she was hungry.
And she knew she should close the wardrobe first.
So she did, pressing the doors shut gently, and then turned toward her chamber door.
The delicious scent grew stronger with every step Lyssena took toward the kitchen, thick with roasted meat and fragrant spices that curled through the air and tickled her senses.
When she arrived, she found Erevos standing near the table, and beside him lay an entire deer, fully cooked, its body stretched across the length of the shadowy wood.
More than that, Lyssena was almost certain the table itself looked larger than it had before.
