"Who... Who are you?" I inquired, my whole body quivering from the icy chill of the figure's eminent presence.
"I am..." the figure began but stopped as Adrianna dash through the door.
"OH HEAVENS!!!" she shrieked as she saw the figure standing on the other side of the room, "CHRISTIAN! What in God's name are you doing in here?!"
"Christian?" I inquired as the figure began to step into the light.
"NO!!" Adrianna cried as she pushed him back into the shadows, "You know better child. You know how your father would feel if you didn't do this for him."
"But mother, why on earth must I?" the figure protested.
"Please Christian..." Adrianna pleaded, holding out an object that was blurred by the darkness.
"Deep sighs Yes Mother." Christian replied as he took the small object from his mother and slipped it on his face.
What could it be?
I felt curiosity slip over my fear and I soon began to feel myself creep towards Adrianna. After a moment or two she finally stood aside, gasping to find me standing only but a foot or so away from her.
"Nicole, I mean Phantess; I would like to introduce you to my son, Christian Estler." She spoke, but I did not hear her words.
I became entranced by the man standing next to her whose eyes were of sapphire and skin as pale as moonlight. His hair was black as the starless night sky and he wore a white porcelain mask that covered just the left side of his face.
The side, he had kept hidden from me... From the day we... first... met... It is him...
"Phantess?" Adrianna inquired as she our eyes locked on each other.
I could not reply to her inquisitions if I even tried too for I was too far gone inside the cool depths of the sapphire eyes. I could hear my heart begin to race and my breath begin to shorten and almost disappear. My entire body began to quiver once more as he slowly reached out and grasped my hand, bowing slightly.
"We meet at last." He spoke, his voice sending chills down my spine.
My eyes never left his as he slowly released my hand and as I was about to correct him, he smirked...
Our first meeting aye? I see...giggles Well, hopefully it will not be the last...
"Shall we?" he asked as he slowly reached for my hand once more.
Adrianna had an utterly confused look on her usually plain and simple expression. As Christian and I walked, hand in hand out of the room and Hilsham passed us on the staircase, I heard him begin to speak with his wife.
"Was that...?" Hilsham began, confusion echoed throughout his usually gruff voice.
"I do not know... I am alas for words my dear..." Adrianna spoke as if she had just watched a miracle happen.
"It is as if..." Hilsham said his voice filling with intrigue.
"They have both met each other before." The both finished.
I felt a sense of freedom in the cool morning air as he and I walked out into the misty garden.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked my voice soft as the morning breeze.
"It was not time yet..." he replied calmly, a smirk coveted his expression.
Time...
"Why were you in the field that day?" I inquired as we came to a cool shady spot near the tower and sat down together.
The smirk on his pale face faded away quickly and was left with pain and sorrow. The joy drained from his sapphire eyes, leaving them empty, only to be filled with misery... A misery I knew to well...
"I... I am so sorry." I spoke, my voice cracking as a tear trickled down my cheek.
"Oh Mon ange, do not cry." He pleaded as he wiped a tear from my cool cheek, "please do not cry."
I bowed my head away from his concern filled eyes, I could not bear to look up into those sapphire eyes and see the pain I had caused.
"In time Mon ange, you shall know everything." He cooed as he gently pushed a lock of hair from my eyes.
"I have one question for you though." He spoke, "How did I ever end up with an angel like you?"
At this, I looked up into his sapphire eyes which now gleamed with joy; the pain and misery slowly faded away into nothing. I felt myself begin to blush and the guilt ridden tears stop flowing.
"That my dear sir, you soon shall know in good time." I replied, feeling a sly smile creep across my blushing expression.
"I can not believe it." He breathed as he gently held me in his arms.
"Believe what?" I inquired as I ran my fingertips down one of his arms.
"That God would have ever let go of something so perfect." He replied.
"You speak of what you think you see. An angel is not who I am." I replied sorrow fluttering in my racing heart.
"What do you think you are? A monster?" he inquired.
"What else do I have? All my life this is what I was told I was by everyone around me!" I breathed.
"She didn't call you that." He replied softly.
I looked deeply into his sapphire eyes now, trying to figure out how in the hell did he know these things with no success.
"How do you...?" I began.
He gently put a finger to my lips, stopping my speech.
"How do you think I ended up in that field?" he inquired slyly.
I stared in utter shock as he gently ran his cool fingertips on my shoulder. I felt the cool breeze hold its breath as my mind raced with thoughts of the past. My heart began to slow its beats and my breath nearly ceased as my lungs froze, stunned by the realizations that were forming in the dark abyss of my mind.
He knows...
