Gem Tang Quotes

To this point, he could not really have said that he loved William. Feel the terror of responsibility for him, yes. Carry thought of him like a gem in his pocket, certainly, reaching now and then to touch it, marveling. But now he felt the perfection of the tiny bones of William’s spine through his clothes, smooth as marbles under his fingers, smelled the scent of him, rich with the incense of innocence and the faint tang of shit and clean linen. And thought his heart would break with love.

The smell hit Josiri first. Death. Not the old death of the rooms above, but the iron tang of blood recently spilt. The rough stone floor was dark with it, and never more so than where glistening grooves led towards a large, open grate at the room’s far end. In the chamber’s centre sat a low stone altar, its worn flanks etched with effigies of carrion birds with glittering gems for eyes