The stone sat innocently at the middle of the table. White etchings stood out over its polished blue surface. Quiet, inert. The woman stared at it from her chair across the room. She leaned forward. Fingers massaging her temples. "What am I to do with it?"
A quiet pulse shook the lantern flames and the stone turned purple from within. A dark figure leaned down to her from the side, whispering in her ear. "It hates you now. You are nothing. Nobody. Dead and forgotten."
"That's not true." she stammered.
The figure righted itself in one fluid motion and stepped slowly around the chair. Her tattered dress left traces of frost that quickly wicked away into the cracks of the wood. "It was never about you, you know. It was always about me. I was the one he desired. And you simply could not measure up." Her mouth twitched to the side twice before curling to a sneer while the other woman sobbed quietly.
"This... this is why I never liked you. Why you know he never could. Sniveling whore! You should crawl back to your Jewel and waste away in the gutter where you belong."
The figure turned abruptly and knelt before the chair. Her nose mere lims from the other's forhead.
"Or... to Ishgard. Yessss, together. The Voice can lead us to him. You know she can. We only need the right leverage."
The woman's eyes widened.
"Your sister is in Fallgourd. Take her. She knows too much already, and her corpse will serve to break him all the sooner."
A sudden knock at the door startled the woman in the chair. Her head turned towards it, then down to the blistered palm of her hand from when she had tried to hold the stone again. That's right, she had requested a chirurgeon. She stood and surveyed the room quickly. The other woman was nowhere to be found.
A quiet pulse shook the lantern flames and the stone turned purple from within. A dark figure leaned down to her from the side, whispering in her ear. "It hates you now. You are nothing. Nobody. Dead and forgotten."
"That's not true." she stammered.
The figure righted itself in one fluid motion and stepped slowly around the chair. Her tattered dress left traces of frost that quickly wicked away into the cracks of the wood. "It was never about you, you know. It was always about me. I was the one he desired. And you simply could not measure up." Her mouth twitched to the side twice before curling to a sneer while the other woman sobbed quietly.
"This... this is why I never liked you. Why you know he never could. Sniveling whore! You should crawl back to your Jewel and waste away in the gutter where you belong."
The figure turned abruptly and knelt before the chair. Her nose mere lims from the other's forhead.
"Or... to Ishgard. Yessss, together. The Voice can lead us to him. You know she can. We only need the right leverage."
The woman's eyes widened.
"Your sister is in Fallgourd. Take her. She knows too much already, and her corpse will serve to break him all the sooner."
A sudden knock at the door startled the woman in the chair. Her head turned towards it, then down to the blistered palm of her hand from when she had tried to hold the stone again. That's right, she had requested a chirurgeon. She stood and surveyed the room quickly. The other woman was nowhere to be found.
