The ring was a band of turquoise, with a gleaming golden sun inlaid on the face and a shining silver moon in diametric opposition. The ring’s hue deepened around the band so that the night side was nearly midnight blue. That had taken half a dozen tries to get right. There were the tiniest pinpricks of mica that sparkled, like distant stars on the night side, and on the day side, the turquoise swirled and billowed, suggesting clouds.

Charlot watched her expression carefully as he handed her the ring, watching the flicker of surprise in her dark eyes as she handled the band. It was like holding a bit of dandelion fluff. The ring had no weight.

Her long, slender fingers held his creation with great care, as if it might shatter from handling alone. But she could strike the ring with a hammer all day, and the hammer would break first.

“Did you make this for me, Charlot?” Rhian asked, and there was the sly turn of her smile and the flutter of her long eyelashes as she drew the ring closer to her in both hands. Her eyes were like no others, a brown so dark they were nearly black, rimmed with a golden brown that seemed to catch the light and hold it for an instant longer than any others.

She was only joking, of course. Rhian thought Charlot only meant to show her his latest creation, as he had so many others. There was a moment where he could have feigned outrage, pretended to grab it back and the whole thing would have just been a jape.

For an instant, Charlot’s confidence faltered. Part of him cried out for caution. He could be on the verge of ruining everything. Yet, the Charlot who had spent half a year forging the ring would have none of it. It was as if the craftsman stood behind him and shoved him forward, with no patience for his present apprehension.

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“Yes,” Charlot said seriously, and together they paused. The dynamic between them hung trembling in the air. In an instant, it would change completely and never be the same again.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, turning it around and around. “But this is too much. You must have spent so long on it.”

“Only a year,” he said, smiling at the praise. How lovely those words were coming from her lips! She was the beautiful one, with her eyebrows that always seemed a little angry, her high cheekbones with waves of long auburn hair crashing at the sides of her face. The ring was just a piece of stone.

“If you gave a year of your life for a ring, you should have it,” she said, looking at him closely. She was making a decision.

He smiled, and then took the other ring out of his pocket, the mirror image of the one she held. Her eyebrows rose. Again, he had surprised her.

“I wanted us to be able to do this together,” Charlot said, and his voice was sure, not betraying the incredible tumult in his chest.

“Do what?” Rhian asked. Her peculiar eyes glittered with curiosity. She was always that way as they learned. She wanted to know, more than anything. He loved that look most of all.

“Put it on if you want to see,” Charlot said, and he slid his own on. What a trust he was asking! To put on a wizard’s ring without inspecting it, without glancing through the planes. It was an incredible risk. Here was the point where she could refuse and shatter him completely.

She smiled and put on the ring.