It was like the air was pulled from the room, making it hard to breathe, to think until the Black Mage set his garnet eyes on her, inspecting every inch, from her loose ebony curls to the glittering slippers on her feet, and then their stares met and it felt like her heart stopped and started all over again. For a moment she wasn’t afraid. It was like seeing the sunrise after only witnessing the dark, or the nostalgia of coming home after years of being away. He smiled at her as if he too might be feeling the same thing.
