Chapter 902 He Needs You

Posey
Luckily for Aris, I’m too busy trying desperately to keep my mind and heart away from the thought of him in general to disobey his direct orders. Unluckily for him, after a night of tossing and turning, with very little sleep, I wake up the next morning alone in the castle for the first time, staring at the mask, at my scattered, useless tools, and my mind wanders again.
Trying to ignore my wanderlust, I get back to work, popping out the old jewels and busying myself by placing new ones, ones I made myself out of silver and melded until they shone like diamonds. The fawn bounces around my feet while I do my work. Silver is great for this–creating gems. Most alchemists can’t touch silver without a variety of specialized tools and a heavy duty forge, none of which I have, but it doesn’t affect me. Silver feels beautiful under my touch–like silky cream. Like pure, cold water. It makes me shiver as I press shards of silver into stainless steel molds, heating them until the silver within is reduced to shards of what looks like hot glass. It takes a while–all of my morning–to replace each and every tiny gem that once peppered the mask, but I complete it by midafternoon, and still…