The Psalm of Ashen Silk

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)><em>I go for my son.</em></strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)></span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>A lie whispered to God and myself every Friday as I lead Quasimodo from the sanctuary of Notre Dame to the sin of the street faire. </span><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>I go for his smile for his enjoyment.</em><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> More lies.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)></span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>I go for her: The Embermage.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)></span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>She is temptation. She is forbidden. She is sin-yet one I cannot resist. Her fire calls to a darkness deep within me stirring feelings and urges that must remain buried. For months I've watched from the safety of the crowd: to look but to never ever touch.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)></span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Until one night when I get far too close. She perceives me beckons to me... then </span><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>touches</em><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> me leaving her scarf as a favor of the occasion. I should discard it surrender it to my priest at my next confession or Hell even burn it. But I don't.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)></span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>I allow her name to fester on my lips a wretched sinful psalm and desire one thing above all else even my God's forgiveness:</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)></span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The night she'll scream my name not His.</span></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)><em>The Psalm of Ashen Silk</em> is the prequel novella to a series of sapphic retellings of <em>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</em> The Phantom of Notre Dame series: where Hunchback collides with <em>The Phantom of the Opera</em> in the streets of gothic Paris. These LGBT+ dark fantasy romances are as steamy as they are twisted and are intended for a mature adult audience.</strong></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Please note: while Claude and Esmeralda remain the main characters of every book they will add partners of various genders to their consensually polyamorous relationship over the course of the series.</strong></p><p></p>