The diamond stared at me. A lone eye on on the golden band, judging me. I thought of the vows I would make tomorrow as I placed it upon my fiance’s finger. Before Ekata, I swear myself to thee. Together or apart, in prosperity and misfortune, during all days and nights, my heart and soul is devotedly yours. My stomach churned. How could I lie before the goddesses? My heart didn’t belong to Martha. It belonged to Zion. It would always belong to Zion. How could it not? His soul was so kind and gentle. He was the sweetest being imaginable, so filled with a love for life, for the world. Here I was, selfish and vain, about to crush his heart. I pressed my hand to my forehead and wished for a fever. Perhaps I could delay the wedding. If only by a few days. By Genii, I needed time! I certainly felt sick enough, but my body gave no signs of humoring my heart. I stared back at the wretched ring again and considered Zion’s offer from last night. We were up on the roof at our favorite spot. Like always it was freezing. Part of me wondered if he liked it up there because we would huddle close to keep warm. I remembered years ago when we first dragged me up there. I hesitated as I always did, but he was as energetic as ever, patiently coaxing me out onto the sloping stones. We would just sit together at…show more content… You as Master Monk, and myself as a High Priest , or even the Cardinal. If you had If you had asked me when we were acolytes I would have said yes in a heartbeat. But now... How could I possibly let you break your oath? If you feel guilty about how we cheat it, then I can’t allow you to abandon your responsibilities. And I can’t abandon mine. I would love to throw caution to the wind, follow my heart, be yours for eternity, but I can’t. Perhaps there’s some brilliant land out there we could run away to where that’s possible, but our lives are here. Are you really willing to throw that all
