"Good morning, sleepyhead..."
Ceredin's honey voice reverberated in my mind, pulling from my dizzying and vivid dreams back into the late morning day. I searched around the striking room with my eyes, furrowing my brows when I didn't see any sign of her.
"Cere?" I asked hoarsely, shaking my head to get rid of the sleep that still clung on to me. She wasn't anywhere in the bed, nowhere in the room that I could see. I swung my legs to the pristine white marble floor, relishing the coolness underfoot, and hobbled over to the window, my head spinning with lightheadedness at getting up so swiftly. A clump of dark, shaggy hair dropped into my scrutiny and I pushed it away, exasperated. I leaned over the windowsill, and was met by Ceredin's intense gaze, two slanted glories of ash gray, unmatched in radiance or the way they seemed to hold you. Ceredin looked up at me smiling, her eyes full of amusement.
Her rose colored lips were stretched into a smirk as she lifted one pale, slender hand and waved. "Looking for me? I got up 2 hours ago, Cadvan." She was lying on her back in the soft jade grass, about 4 feet from my ground floor window, with a heavy burgundy book next to her. Her dark auburn curls were lying haphazardly around her head, glimmering red gold when the afternoon sun caressed her face and hair. She had a small plate of assorted fruits and crackers next to her. I reached for a strawberry, but she slapped my hand softly. "Not until you go wash up!" She told me, laughing.
Ceredin bowed forward and kissed me softly, then pulled away and opened her book again, turning over on to her belly. She wore royal blue silk shorts and a loose white tunic. She crossed one elongated, pale leg over the other and gazed back up at me where I was looking at her with adulation apparent in my eyes. "What you still doing standing there, Cadvan?" She asked skeptically, one of her fingers playing with the page of her book.
"I'm looking at how beautiful you are, my love. Is that so wrong?" I responded, grinning at Ceredin. As much as she tried to hide it, a faint rosy flush spread over her porcelain cheeks. Her lower lip quivered a bit and she let out a small sigh, looking at me a bit quizzically. "What?" I inquired, looking at her expression. There was still a smile on her face, but something sad was obscured deep in her eyes. Something snapped in her face.
Ceredin nimbly jumped up over the windowsill and into the room, the book and food forgotten on the lawn. She buried her head in my bare chest, wrapping her arms around my waist. The top of her head didn't even come up to my chin, so she rested it at the nape of my neck. Her lithe, willowy body fit perfectly to mine like a glove. I stroked back her hair, and lifted her chin with one hand so I could look at her face. Her eyes were anxious and wide, full of an ache I couldn't comprehend. She put the side of her head onto my skin again, and I resumed stroking her hair. "Cadvan…Cadvan, I just feel like something horrible is going to happen, I can just sense it. And it really scares me, it does. I've been having the most frightening nightmares and…I'm just scared, Cadvan. I feel like we're going to be separated, somehow, and I love you so much, I don't want to loose you, Cadvan, I really don't… " She sobbed into my torso, her voice muffled. I could feel her frosty tears against my skin, and I shivered.
I raised her delicate chin up until her gray stare was level with mine, and caressed both sides of her face, wiping away the tears. "Love, I would never let anything happen to you. And nothing, nothing is going to happen to us. We're going to be together forever, until the day we both die. Every single minute." She gaped up at me, her eyes full of hope and love. "Promise?" She whispered, her voice cracking. I gazed over the horizon, looking at the brilliance of the sun, the beauty of the azure day. My eyes went back to Ceredin's expectant face of an angel. Our lips met in the softest, sweetest, and tenderest of kisses. I broke away and kissed her forehead carefully.
"Promise."