Benediction

Adelaide stared out at the snow falling so thickly that the world seemed to be made of infinite whiteness.  The battleground where Torvald died would be transformed from a place of horrific desolation into a beautiful colorless landscape.  Come the spring, the blood soaked earth would yield a multitude of wild flowers, and it would be as if the battle had never been. 

She sighed, apprehensive.  Would he come to her tonight, after she had revealed her secret?  Adelaide had never seen Torvald so angry, not even when the battle lust was upon him.  The very air seemed to shimmer with the force of his fury, all directed at her. 

"What were you thinking, Adelaide?" he'd yelled at her, his revulsion evident. "Why did you doctor that potion?  Do you know what you've done?" 

A deep chasm of despair had opened underneath her feet at the realization that Torvald might have welcomed his heroic death as his rightful reward. The consequence of what she had done slammed into her. Adelaide had stolen his honor in her selfish need to keep him with her.   Tears poured forth, her anguish at her thoughtlessness gouging a hole in her heart. Torvald might be bound to her as a result of her spell casting, but he might never come to her again, and that would be the only just punishment. 

Adelaide could stand it no more; she was exhausted.  She would blow out the candle and try to drown her guilt in the dreaming.   She got into bed and pulled the covers up over her.  She stared at the darkness of the ceiling a moment longer, and then closed her eyes. 

"Adelaide."  Her name whispered through the room, a choked out benediction.  Torvald.  She sat up, listening to the shuffling sounds as he moved closer in the dark.  She felt the mattress move as Torvald's weight settled next to her. He took her very warm hand into his cold one, and she burst into tears.








The prompt is the third definition of the word "doctor"; material added(as to food) to produce a desired effect.




The prompt:  A fat, wet snow fell here this weekend, and while I knew we’re already turning our faces towards spring, I want you to draw your inspiration from a snow fall and a secret revealed.