Shades and Silver

2023 Indie Ink Awards Finalist; Writing the Future We Need: Disability Representation by a Disabled Author

The birthright of every Ástfríður is to know each metal in the earth, command it, bend it to their desires. To hear metal singing, some of it waiting just beneath the surface, so much of it deeper in the earth. If they wanted, they knew they could pluck that metal from the earth, melt it with a thought, and shape it as they pleased with a breath of air and their will.

Each Ástfríður must choose which metal they would wear upon their heads, denoting the path they would walk. They craft beautiful horns to wear on their brow, forged with the metal they wish to identify with.

But Britt does not know if they can choose the path they want, if they can overcome a past which has stolen their identity. The day has come for them to choose and they have no idea if they have any right to even try to. And Astrid has never felt the pull of the metal at all. Wearing a forged circlet and horn, they try to navigate a world that they feel has rejected them, all the while fearing someone will learn their secret. The Veil of the Ástfríður has kept them hidden from the world, and safe from intruders. Yet Britt and Astrid feel they are imposters in their own homes.

Both must decide who they are and what they want to be, or they risk losing their place in the Veil.

Shades and Silver is a duology about identity, doubt, disability, and acceptance set in the universe of Scions and Shadows. The stories in Scions and Shadows are stand-alone stories and can be enjoyed in any order.

Cover Art: Merilliza Chan

Typography: MiblArt

Spice Level: No Spice

Rep: Non-binary, agender, genderqueer

Content Notes: Contains emotional manipulation and emotional blackmail, discusses traumatic brain injuries, neurodivergence and masking neurodivergence, PTSD, use of drugs for spiritual and ritual purposes

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