Sam Cortland Lived

Chapter 16

     Rome slumped to the floor of her room. She had spent all afternoon trying to turn with Rowan and Aelin. But all she had to show for it was a bruised shoulder and an angry mood she couldn't shake off. Rowan had insisted afterward not to be worried, that it was a process and it was even difficult for Aelin to shift for the first time. But Rome wasn't having any of it. She was sick of not knowing who she was. Frustrated and sore she picked herself up off of the ground and hauled herself into her bathroom. The tub was already full of sweet-smelling water so she turned to the mirror to let her hair down.

"Ahh!" She yelped. Rome knew she had a rough afternoon but she didn't know it was this bad. Her canine was chipped and part of her right eyebrow was singed off. She groaned and got into the tub. After the water had turned cold and her fingers were pruny Rome pulled herself up, got dressed, and collapsed into her bed. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

     Sam opened the jeweler's door and tentatively walked in with Lysandra following closely behind. He had never been ring shopping and was out of his mind with worry he would pick the wrong one.

"Whatever you pick she's going to love it." Lysandra said reassuringly as if reading his thoughts. He gave her a grateful smile.

"Welcome! What are we looking for today? Perhaps an anniversary gift? A birthday present for that special someone? Why I have the perfect shade of green to match your lovely wife's eyes." The small man in front of Sam smiled fakely and took a deep breath getting ready to continue talking when Lysandra spoke up.

"He's here to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend. I am a friend here to help." Sam nodded eagerly.

"Ahh, brilliant let me go get my latest pieces!" He waddled off behind his counter and returned moments later holding a glass plate full of beautiful rings of all colors.

They took a seat and he began to explain them to him.

"This one includes a ruby stone imported all the way from the southern continent. While this one has an orange stone that may look ordinary now but when put in the sun shows all the colors of the rainbow!" He continued explaining all the stones while Lysandra pointed out different styles to Sam. But none of them seemed quite right. Sam was waiting for that one that he would see and just know was perfect for Rome. Eventually, they began looking around the shop but to no avail. They left an hour later with no ring.

"Don't worry you still have until tomorrow night to find the right one. In fact there is another shop a few blocks down where I got some earrings that are just to die for..." Lysandra explained as they walked out of the store, but Sam had stopped listening. Something sparkly had caught his eye from across the street. Lysandra called his name in question but he was already running across to the little shop, which was so small most people would probably walk right past it. Lysandra finally caught up to him and started to ask a question but stopped when she realized what he had been looking at.

"It's Perfect." She whispered.

For sitting delicately on a rusty old display shelf was a moonstone ring. Sam had seen this particular rock up in the jungle of Morath and knew they were so rare he had considered himself lucky to have seen it just once then. The moonstone was a crystal with a pale blue center and when hit by light erupted into every color you could think of. Surrounding the stone were crystal petals making it look like a flower with more crystal leaves weaving around the stone and onto the band. The band itself was gold.

They quickly walked into the store hoping not to look too eager to buy the ring. Sam knew how priceless these stones were and was hoping the shop owner didn't. They pretended to look around for a few moments, sweeping up and down the isles of old knickknacks and random clothes hanging around them. Eventually, the shopkeeper, a tall lanky old man with kind eyes, asked if he could help them.