Chapter VIII • Severin

“Five… Four… Three…” I mumble to myself as I pull on the external part of my ear to position the earring’s hook. I’ve never done this before, but here is to hoping that I am doing this correctly. “Two… O-one…”

Shik.

“AUGH! Sweet bloody nails of the gods! Sapphire, how in heavens did you do this?!”

My ear warms up as it throbs in pain. The hook is now through the chunk of skin, its edge protruding on the other side. I am unsure if I’m bleeding, but with shaking hands, I reach for the other earring, and do the same thing to my other ear.

“I wish you were hither so that I don’t have to do this. These are supposed to be on your ears, Saph…”

My sister is dead. I shouldn’t have been so reckless; I wasn’t aware of my surroundings, and my excitement got the better of me. I held her lifeless body in my arms all night yesternight, hoping that whatever ability she had used to heal our wounds and bruises would also heal the hole she had through her chest…

But it never sealed,

and it never b