Thorn, a werewolf tale of love and obsession

Chapter 17 ~ siblings ~

"I just thought I'd drop by considering I haven't seen you for a few days" Beam said as she sat in the lab watching Thinnakorn work.

"well, as you can see, I've been busy" Korn replied waving his arms around the lab.

"aren't you going to ask me how things are going with my mate?" Beam asked him.

"I figured that if you wanted me to know, you would tell me" Korn replied.

"of course I want you to know, you're my brother" Beam replied.

"go on then, how are things going?" Korn said, humouring her.

"great, I went to his parents house for dinner once and he took me out for dinner on another evening after that, his parents are really nice, his dad is a bit scary but I guess that's only to be expected with him being the beta and all" she replied.

"he wasn't mean to you was he? just because you're mated to his son it doesn't mean you have to put up with any shit" Korn said then cursed himself when he remembered he was supposed to be acting indifferent.

"I knew you cared" Beam said skipping over to her brother and throwing her arms around him in a bear hug.

"of course I care you stupid girl, no matter what' I wouldn't stand by and let anyone hurt you" Korn replied.

"no he wasn't mean, just a bit stern but anyway' what are you doing? wahhh that ring is pretty" Beam said leaning across Korn's work mat intending to pick it up.

"nope, don't even think about it missy" Korn said grabbing her wrist.

"can't I just try it on?" she pouted.

"nope, what if you dropped it and a stone came loose, I would have to pay the damages and I'm not exactly wealthy" Korn said.

"so tell me about it then" she asked instead.

"the client wants me to authenticate it and try to value it" Korn said.

"is it real?" Beam asked.

"it appears to be, it's passed all the usual tests, the shank is not magnetic and it's far too soft to be steel, can you see how it's bent through wear and tear?" Korn asked his sister.

"wow yes, your right"

The centre stone has a consistent clarity and when I look at it under the lens I can see ultra fine rutile needles or what is known as silk which is characteristic of the burmese ruby, it's rich red colour has me thinking it could be a pigeon blood ruby and the accent stones are a mix of blue/green sapphires and rubies of a lesser quality,"

"so how old do you think it is?" Beam asked her brother.

"mmm how long is a piece of string? ... it's a process of elimination really, they didn't start cutting the pear shape until the mid 15th century so it's not older than that but it's too gaudy to be modern piece, it's from an era where they hadn't adopted the 'less is more' oxymoron yet and wanted to show off their wealth and going by the dome design I would say it's of middle eastern origin.

It's closed and foil backed which points to the Georgian era and if it was a European style it could very easily have been paste but because these stones were in such plentiful supply in the middle east they're the real deal, inclusions don't lie and neither does my mass ' spec,

the main setting is a crimped bezel style which has been around for centuries so in conclusion, it's at least a couple hundred years old, it's pretty bashed up but it's still beautiful, the value with the damage? difficult to say really because it all depends what a collector is prepared to pay for it but if my client was to take it to auction, I would advise placing a considerable reserve on it"