“As often as I can.”
I suddenly felt horribly rude. I was so nervous that I wasn’t asking any questions, I was just letting him interview me. I cleared my throat. “What’s your favorite?”
“Hmm?”
“Your favorite weather,” I clarified.
“I prefer nighttime, for obvious reasons. But temperature fluctuations don’t bother me much. It all feels cold here.”
What a strange answer. “Here as in Moonvale?”
He nodded slowly. “Moonvale especially. Aldova.”
“It is ridiculously warm in Sunhaven,” I argued.
“Sure. But there are hotter places.”
“I guess. And what do you do?”
“In general?” he asked.
I reached out and pushed the goblet closer to him. “Are you going to try that?”
He glanced down as though noticing the goblet for the first time. His eyebrow lifted. “What is it?”
“Cider.”
He lifted the goblet and swirled it around. His long,graceful fingers handled the glass with a dexterity that made me shiver. “Why is it… pink?”
I shrugged. “Strawberry. Just try it.”
He lifted the cider to his mouth. He took a sip, let the liquid rest in his mouth for a moment, and then swallowed. My eyes tracked the movement of his throat.
He set the goblet back on the table. “I walk a lot.”
“Pardon?”
“You asked me what I do. In general. I walk a lot.”
“Through the woods?” I asked, perplexed. “Around town?”
“Yes. I find that I have a lot of time to kill.”
“And do you… work? I guess you don’t, considering…” I wasn’t sure how to phrase the question without sounding rude.
“As in, do I have a job? No. I am the God of Shadows, recently returned from banishment. I am untethered at the moment.”
“Oh.”
“Does that displease you?”
I slid his goblet toward me. If he wasn’t going to drink it, I would.
I took a slow sip. “No, what you do with your time is your business. I would expect the God of Shadows to be rather busy.”
“You might be surprised.”
He reached out and took the goblet from me. He spun it around, where a drop of cider was still glistening on the rim from my sip.
