Nicon

XX

XX

    HER DREAM HAD been extremely vivid.  Bright, luminous sunlight had been streaming through large french style windows that accompanied a white windowsill wide enough for someone to sit on it.  It had been morning, and Elysie was sprawled out on the floor sketching the deep red colored wolf from the woods, who she now knew to be Syd.

    When she woke, she didn't expect it to be any different as the days before.  She expected to wake up hopeful, open her eyes, and be disappointed as she was met with the familiar blackness.  It was repetitive, but as Elysie spent more and more nights in the castle, it was a form of routine for the girl, among the constant worry for her mother and dinner with the King.

    But, today, it was different. 

    As she woke, she sleepily rubbed her eyes and scratched the back of her neck as she yawned loudly, her other arm stretching behind her. It took her a few moments to realize that the large windows from her dream had passed over, and it took even longer for her to realize that she could see them.  Barely, but they were there.

    She spent no time assessing how exactly she knew how the windows looked before she got a large portion of her sight back, and instead sprung from the bed and looked around the room.

    The edge of her vision was tinged with black, soft little collections of dots and dark hues of gray.  She could see the light, in a brighter shade of gray, but it was light nonetheless.  Her heart thumped with excitement because she could make out the window pane and trees outside, even if the grass wasn't as green as she remembered.  Although everything looked a little blurry, she wasn't complaining because she could see.

    A knock sounded on the door.

    "Come in!" She fixed the strap on her night gown and stood up to greet whomever came into her room.

He steeped inside confidently, his shoulders back and his chin pointed upward. First, she noticed the mans hair, dark colored with small waves. He had a slight stubble on his chin and along his jawline as if he hadn't shaved in a few days.  She could see that his eyes were very bright, even if she couldn't tell if the color was blue or green.  He was wearing dress pants and a nice light colored collard shirt, with what looked like a dark leather jacket.

    She knew it was Nicon.

    "Elysie. I heard your heart beating outrageously from the Great Room."

    "Doesn't that mean everyone heard my heart?"

    She could make out a smile form on his face.  "Not everyone was listening."

    Elysie smiled and took a step toward the man that so many feared.  He was too beautiful to be the coldhearted man she heard whispers about.

    "Nicon." 

    His eyes were staring at hers.  He watched the ways her eyes were trained on him, as they had been since he got here, which was not what he was used to.  Normally, her eyes would be glazed over in his direction, sightless.

    "You've regained your sight, haven't you?" his hopeful tone was not something either of them missed.

"Most of it, yes." A grin lit up her pretty face before she did something impulsive.

    She ran at the man and hugged him.  Tightly, her arms wrapped against his bare neck causing the places where their skin was touching to tingle maddeningly.  He wrapped his strong arms around her lower back, pulling her to him tightly as if he were afraid she would let go.  The action had come so naturally to the both of them that they didn't let go for a long minute.

    They just held each other.

    Elysie grinned, infinitely happy she could finally stare back at the man who often stared at her.