“We can.” I watched her from the corner of my eye as we walked the midway.
Her nostrils flared, bombarded with all the new scents of food and people. She cocked her head toward the game operators, her attention clearly on their words.
Some of the people passing us in the aisle stared at her, their glances going from her constantly moving cane, her face, then finally to me. Others gave her a wide berth, trying to hide their internal fear, but I could see into their hearts. Whilst most were curious, there were a few who outright disliked her because she was different.
When each human I encountered felt this way, I sent a thin tendril of ether into their body, commanding it to make their time tonight less than enjoyable. Bad luck and stomach trouble would follow them all night long for their slight against my Anna.
“Step up, pretty lady, and win yourself a goldfish.” A grizzled man, dressed in a maroon polo shirt and wrinkled black slacks, smiled at her, motioning to his booth with a hand.
She stopped and turned to me. “What kind of game is it, Lucian? One I can do, you think?” Hope filled her face once more, and even if it had been a game requiring a sharpshooter’s sight, I would’ve told her yet.
I peered at the setup. It seemed simple enough. All one had to do was toss a plastic ring, and if it landed in a fishbowl, the contestant would take it home.
“Yes, Anna. Give it a go.” I formed the five-dollar fee in my palm and held it up.
The man plucked it from my fingers.
Snaking a hand around her shoulders, I guided her to the partition separating the walkway from the table sitting ten feet away with the fifty or so water-filled fishbowls.
“Here you go. Ten rings for the lady.” He moved them toward her, but I took them instead and placed them into her waiting palm.
Leaning closer, I pushed my lips to her ear. She smelled of lemon and jasmine, subtle yet unique.How have I never noticed this before?“Throw the rings underhanded and gently. They’ve designed these games to be hard.” My mouth brushed against her earlobe, the velvety contact sending a hot shiver down my spine.
I jerked away, angry at myself for noticing how she smelled, how soft her skin felt.
What the fuck is happening? She’s too young, too innocent.
Fighting a wave of disgust for myself, I backed away a few steps, needing the space to clear my head, slow my heart, and calm my cock. I wiped my hands over my face, wishing I could block out her fragrance and the soft tickles of her breath.
She leaned her cane against the wood of the booth, then pulled a small green ring from the pile in her palm. “Okay, here goes.” With an underhand toss, she sent it sailing through the air. It landed on the side, not even close to the middle of the display.
The man frowned. “Don’t throw it so hard,” he whispered, giving a quick glance around, as if afraid someone might catch him giving pointers to the person he should’ve been swindling.
For that one act of kindness toward Anna, I sent a wisp of power into his bones, easing the arthritis I sensed flaring in his knee.
His smile widened and he stretched out his leg.
It’s not healing, just a temporary reprieve from the ache, the same thing a couple of Tylenol would’ve done if the stupid human had remembered to take some before his shift.
Annoyed with myself and with him, I flicked my attention back to Anna.
Nodding to the man, she grabbed a yellow circle and took a few deep breaths. Then, with a graceful flick of her wrist, she sent the ring directly toward the glass bowls.
With a plink, it landed on the lip of one, then teetered to the table.
“Did I get it, Lucian?” she asked as she moved her head toward me, her stare wide and a crooked grin on her face.
I debated lying and paying the man for the stupid damn fish, yet I did not want to treat her as most everyone treated her, like she couldn’t do anything on her own.
“No, Love, you didn’t.” I stepped to her side.
“Oh.” Her smile faded. “Well, I have”—quickly, she ran her fingers over the pile in her hand—“eight more, so I’ll just…I’ll just try again.”
“You can do it.” With a sidestep to stand at her back, I straightened her shoulders. “Here, you tend to favor your right side, so try throwing more toward the left or moving half a foot over to compensate for it.”
A breeze lifted her curls. One tickled my nose as it flew against my face, imprinting her lemon and jasmine fragrance into my brain.
I walked to the game operator, who stared at me for a long moment, as if he’d just truly noticed me. I’d hidden all traces of my divinity before entering Anna’s orphanage, so all he should have seen was a twenty-year-old guy dressed in blue jeans, a button-down black shirt, and combat boots. My eyes might’ve seemed a little darker than most, but it was an effect of the ether, and one thing I wouldn’t compromise.
