Not since his newlywed days had Anders relied upon his shadow abilities. He wanted to prove himself a “real” man. He also couldn’t risk getting caught flattening into a silhouette on the wall by anyone in the palace. But now, he needed speed and silence. He had to get to the privacy of the mountains to call upon his creator.

As it turned out, becoming two-dimensional felt just as natural as it always had. Popping back up as a solid person was the hard part. Anders lost his momentum and propelled face-first into a bush. After rubbing the debris from his eyes, he focused on the brightest star in the sky and wished feverishly. Please, let us have a child.

The wishing star pulsed back. After some time, the fairy Life Goddess materialized, towering higher than any earthly man. Glaring down at him, she scorned his wish. “You who killed your kindly master beseech me for another blessing?”

“Peder was not my master,” he said. Indeed, Anders had ordered his old companion’s death, but only to preserve his secret. Peder had sought to separate him and Gwynnyth by revealing to the kingdom that Anders wasn’t fully human. “And that’s besides the point.”

For nearly an hour, he begged and debated with her. She would not budge. “I see through your plaintive pleas, selfish shadow. You want a legacy—an empire. I will never grant you more power than what you’ve already stolen. Until you are a Real man, you will never have a child, and you will never be a Real man.”

He swallowed his frustration. “I don’t ask this for myself. Grant this for my wife, not for me. She is innocent of all my transgressions, and she is the one who suffers from your petty curse. Not me.” He fell to his knees. “Please, this is all I’ll ever ask of you. Permit us one child of our own, and I’ll never bother you again.” 

At last, she outstretched her hand. “Very well. You and your wife shall conceive a child.” She cut him off before he could thank her. “A shadow’s son, a son befitting so wretched a creature as you.”

Before he could question her, she vanished.