“I’m so, so sorry,” he repeated, and he meant it this time. He really meant it. This time there were real tears filling his eyes. Akito pleaded to all those gods he didn’t believe in that he could change this thing he did.
The mountain witch sucked on the metal tip of the kiseru and inflated her chest. The bowl crackled and glowed orange-red. She stood. She was even larger than before. She straightened herself until she reached her full height. The wispy dreamlike quality of her vanished and was replaced with a weight, a realness of her presence that terrified Akito. This wasn’t a dream anymore.
“If there is nothing left to give,” she said.
The crone reached down and sank one of her taloned hands into his elbow and yanked him to his feet. Akito screamed out in pain.
He wanted to pull a
