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PROLOGUE

35 Years Ago

The pitch-black ered hands, pressing hiht And every night, the boy was terrified

“No,” he whispered “It’s not a monster, it’s just the darkness It’s just the darkness!”

He wasn’t a baby anyht years old, and he swore to the goddess he wouldn’t cry out for his mother this time

But this resolve lasted only a few er “Mother!” he called, and, as she always did, she cae of his bed

“My darling” She gathered hi like a weak little fool, he let out a shuddery sob against her shoulder “It’s all right I’m here now”

Light swelled as she lit the candle next to his bed Though her beautiful face was cast in shadows, he could see anger in it, but he could tell it was not directed at hiain to always have a candle burning in your rooht”

“The breeze et any of his nursemaids in trouble

“Perhaps” She pressed her hand to his cheek “Do you feel better now?”

Noith the light returned and his mother here he only felt foolish “I’m sorry I should have been braver”

“Many fear the darkness, for very good reason,” she told him “You’re not the only one who sees in it a horrible monster But the only way to defeat the monster ishow?”

“Byfriends with it”

“That’s right” She waved a hand at the lantern on the wall, lighting it with her fire ic He watched her with awe, as he always did when she wielded elementia She raised a brow at his reaction “You don’t think I’m a monster, do you?”

“Of course not,” he said, shaking his head His mother was a witch—a secret she’d shared only with him She’d told hiht theain,” the boy said