And held out a ring as if she couldn’t believe what she was looking at and needed a good second opinion.
It was a diamond solitaire of good size. Two or three karats. Set in a modern setting that had to be platinum. Simple, beautiful… a symbol of enduring love.
Qhuinn didn’t recognize the piece. It wasn’t one that their mahmen had owned.
“That’s an engagement ring,” he said. Like an idiot.
“Is it for me?” As if she were in the same state of shock he was.
And then he realized something about the ring. You didn’t go out and buy something like that while there were slayers in your house, murdering everybody. Hell, given its size and the way it sparkled, even in low light? You didn’t just waltz out and pick it up at the local mall.
This was an important ring. One that had been chosen with care, over time, and with consideration, for which a tremendous amount of money had been spent.
So Luchas had made his mind up before the raids, before that night.
As that math added up, Qhuinn felt a tremendous swell of pride toward his brother.
“Do you…” Anna Sophia looked worried. “Do you need this back? It’s very expensive.”
“I’m sorry, what—oh, no. That’s yours. My brother clearly bought it for you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Never surer about anything in my life.” Well, except his love for Blay and his young.
Anna Sophia sat back and stared at the ring. Then she slipped it on the fourth finger of her left hand. “I wish he were here.”
“Me, too.”
“Is it wrong…”
“Is what wrong?”
“I’m glad that he didn’t just… forget me.” She looked around the apartment. “I have felt… forgotten. By my husband over the last decade of our marriage. By Luke. Especially by Luke. I loved him, too, you see. But… you’re not supposed to care what others think of you, right. Others are not supposed to define us.”
The last sentence was said with resignation, as if it were something she had been trying to convince herself of—with little success.
A sudden fear had Qhuinn leaning forward. “Anna Sophia, I know you don’t know me—”
“But I do. You’re Luke’s brother.”
“Well, then, please listen to me. You have things to live for on this side. There’s no reason to rush… seeing your Luke again. There’s time for that. Much later.”
It was a relief when she nodded. “You are very right. I have my two daughters. And God knows, I haven’t done enough for them lately.”
And Luchas had you, Qhuinn thought. He just didn’t trust your love was strong enough to handle his physical suffering.
Qhuinn reached forward and took the woman’s hand, the one that bore his brother’s ring. “Luke will be waiting for you, at the end of what I hope for you is a very long life. You’re in your middle, though. Not at your end. So you must stay here with your children and carve out your life—now knowing that you were loved by a male of great worth.”
He squeezed her hand and then sat back again. At which point Anna Sophia splayed her fingers out. As she considered the ring, her face was cast in shadows of sadness, but there was a light in her eye that had not been there before.
“Thank you,” she said. “This gives me closure that I needed. I don’t want him to have passed, and I hate that he died so young. But I am… this is more than I could ever have hoped for. So thank you.”
Qhuinn smiled a little. “It’s helped me, too. Just doing this… makes me feel like I’ve done something for him.”
Anna Sophia smiled back at him. Then she grew serious. “I’m never going to see you again, am I.”
For a moment, Qhuinn considered lying. “No, you’re not.”