Underfoot, gems crunch. At first you mistook them for pebbles, but then you stop, bend down, scoop up a handful and let them trickle through your fingers. A glinting cataract of chatoyants, beryls, garnets, amethysts and alexandrites.
The scaly skin of the snake glows with reptilian beauty. The creature is poised and ready to strike, waiting to wrap its muscular form around some unsuspecting prey. It will not have to wait for very long.
She leans against the plush arm of the enormous chair of red leather she is sitting in, sliding her marble legs sideways in a reptilian manner as she pushes her white face through the shadows.