Thursday: Displaying the Inside ... Out
"In lieu of a ring," he'd said. Once it was around her neck, the stone seemed almost weightless on the thin silver chain; hollow, in a way she couldn't quite put her finger on. Before the dark priest's altar, her chest grew cool, and the corresponding increase in warmth from the stone was just a detail she overlooked amidst all the others. After their wedding night, the warmth grew, and the ruby had a soft glow.
The Brotherhood's taunts, the random jeers, the Seer's plot -- they all strengthened the warmth and light of the stone even as her demonic powers grew. Her fears came from the dry cold within her, and when from that logic she asked, "What was this, a consolation prize?" his hold on the chain didn't loosen. The ruby caught the conjured light as he flipped it between his hands. "Yes, and no."
After they resurfaced in a quiet corner of Golden Gate Park, she again turned obligingly. "Be careful with it," she almost snapped as he lifted the chain free.
He looked at her, and with a slow, ironic smile, held the ruby up to the sunlight. "Of course. It's the most valuable thing you own."
The Brotherhood's taunts, the random jeers, the Seer's plot -- they all strengthened the warmth and light of the stone even as her demonic powers grew. Her fears came from the dry cold within her, and when from that logic she asked, "What was this, a consolation prize?" his hold on the chain didn't loosen. The ruby caught the conjured light as he flipped it between his hands. "Yes, and no."
After they resurfaced in a quiet corner of Golden Gate Park, she again turned obligingly. "Be careful with it," she almost snapped as he lifted the chain free.
He looked at her, and with a slow, ironic smile, held the ruby up to the sunlight. "Of course. It's the most valuable thing you own."