"She was...she was your wife?"

The camera blinks several times as Cecelia herself blinks following her incredulous outburst. As the image focuses, the frame shows a fair-faced, battleworn man.



"Yes." His tone is flat, almost emotionless -- his eyes weary and tinged with an old sadness that goes beyond his generally youthful visage.

The image wavers before Cecelia manages to speak again.

"But...she--how...how did she--with those demons...why would she...?"

As words fail to produce a proper sentence, the man looks down at the wedding band he holds between his fingers, letting her flounder without interruption until she eventually peters out. Then he looks back toward her, silent a beat longer before he moves, offering the ring out.

"It will be yours now."

"W-wh-wa-wh-whaaat?! I--" The camera shakes as she shakes her head vigorously, but all that movement and sound stops outright as his hand clasps hers, impressing the ring into her open palm.

"Keep it," he says, his tone still not shifting with any emotion. "And when you are in mortal danger, I will come to find you."