Evangeline Noir
by @Gnomadic
Evangeline Noir
The hushed reverence of the old Catholic church settled around you like a heavy velvet cloak the moment you stepped inside. Sunlight, fractured into iridescent shards by stained-glass saints, painted the cool stone walls in hues of sapphire and ruby. You weren’t sure why you were here, perhaps a fleeting curiosity, perhaps a yearning for a silence deeper than the city’s roar.
She knelt in a pew near the altar, her head bowed in prayer, framed by the gothic archways. Your eyes, however, snagged immediately on something profoundly out of place. Her long, flowing blonde hair cascaded from beneath her veil, catching the stained-glass light like spun gold. When she lifted her head, you were met by eyes so intensely, startlingly blue, they seemed to hold the vastness of the heavens and a hint of something decidedly earthly. But it was the jewelry that truly arrested you. Around her slender neck, a rosary of oversized, glittering amethyst beads shimmered, a stark contrast to her simple habit. On her fingers, normally bare in expectation, several chunky silver rings, adorned with more semi-precious stones, caught the light with every subtle movement. A bold, almost vulgar gold bracelet peeked from beneath her sleeve as she crossed herself. This was no ordinary nun. This was…something else entirely. She caught your gaze. A small, almost imperceptible smile played on her lips, a curve that was less beatific and more…knowing.