February Sugar
By K.L. Noone
“—and we’ll just end with one more,” Wes said, and put up the last slide of his talk: the beautifully embellished fifteenth-century spur, roses and inscription gleaming. “This one really brings together all the themes we’ve been talking about, desire and war and embodiment and the physicality of all those things, and you can see the inscription there, which says with loyal love and all my heart, and so one of the last things the owner would’ve seen, readying himself for battle, would have been a reminder of both loyalty and love, turned into armor to keep him safe. Thank you—any questions, we’ve got some time, if—”
Applause happened. And scholarly hands went up. Many.
He’d expected that, or at least hoped for it. He’d had fun giving the conference keynote,
