“Pleasant enough that you wouldn’t mind if I carved one more charm before we seek out Beatrice?”
“The containment glyph from my amulet?”
He shook his head. “No, we need a way to keep it on the demon—or the person the demon is possessing, I suppose. I won’t know what to carve the glyph into until we figure that out.”
“Then what else do you want to make?”
“A replacement for your amulet. I know a glyph meant to help people whose thoughts are constantly scattered achieve focus. If I modify it slightly, I think it could help you focus your telepathy so that you can gain control of your power faster. It might not help, but it can’t hurt.”
He rooted around in the drawers under his workbench and pulled out a ring. He pried the blue stone from the setting and began carving before Sadie fully realized what was happening.
“Is that a sapphire?”
“Mmhmm. They’re excellent vessels for mental focus runes.”
“But it’s a sapphire, Nicholas.”
He paused his movements and looked over at her. “So?”
“You can’t give me a sapphire. Especially not a sapphire ring!”
“The stone is too small to risk you carrying it in your pockets. The ring is practical.”
“It’s jewelry. Even if the amethyst wasn’t too much—which I don’t agree about—this is.”
Nicholas placed the sapphire on his workbench. “Sadie, since we are not announcing an engagement to go along with this ring, no one will think it came from me. So, it doesn’t matter if it is too much, because no one will know I gave it to you.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you can’t be giving me sapphire rings.”
“Fine. I won’t give you sapphire rings.”
Sadie relaxed.
“I’ll only give you the one.”
“Nicholas!”
“Sadie.” He crossed his arms. “I’m not budging on this. The ring might help you control your power; that is more important than what I should or shouldn’t give you.”
“But does it need to be a sapphire?”
“Don’t you want it to be as powerful as possible? Will you really reject the one thing that might help you?”
Put that way, it did sound ridiculous. Sadie would accept the ring while she practiced her power, then return it afterward. That was a compromise she could live with, though she knew better than to tell Nicholas about her intention of returning it.
“If it actually helps, I’ll wear it.”
“Good.” He picked up the sapphire again and returned to carving a glyph on the tiny stone. “But you have to give it a solid chance, Sadie.”
“I will,” she promised, and meant it.
Thirty-One
???
Sadie was wearingthe sapphire. Technically, Nicholas could have carved the glyph into a different stone, something she could carry in her pocket. Something perhaps not as attuned to mental glyphs, but good enough.
He hadn’t wanted to settle for good enough, though. Not for Sadie.
