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The first time she’d been in that room she asked Thorne about the s he’d seen, fro metropolises, tropical forests to white-sand beaches His descriptions had filled Cress with longing She was happy here on the spaceship--it was roomier than her satellite had been, and the bonds she was for with the rest of the crew felt like friendship But she had still seen so little of Earth, and the thought of seeing those things, while standing at Thorne’s side, their fingers laced together … the fantasyin the th

"Did you call hted "Cress! I thought I heard your footsteps Come here" He circled his whole arm, like he could draw her forith the vacuum it created

When she reached his side, Thorne flailed his hand around until he found her wrist and pulled her down beside hiain with his free hand

Cress blinked at the sh the feed wasI can see"--releasing her wrist, he waved a finger in the screen’s direction--"kind of a bluish light And the lights in the ceiling" He tilted his head back, eyes wide and pupils dilated as they tried to take in as much information as they could "They’re ht and dark Soh Dr Erland believed Thorne’s eyesight would begin to ione with no change It had now been nearly teeks since the solution had run out, and she knew the wait had tried even Thorne’s relentless optimism

"I know" Crushing his eyes shut, Thorne lowered his head again "Except, it’s kind of giving ht strain them"

He nodded and pressed a hand over both eyes "Maybe I should wear the blindfold again Until things start to come into focus"

"It’s up here" Cress stood and found the blindfold and the e theat her, or through her, his brow tense She froze

It had been a long time since he looked at her, and back then they’d been scra for their lives That had been before he cut her hair too She sometimes wondered how much he remembered about what she looked like, and what he would think when he saw her again … practically for the first ti his head "Kind of a hazy silhouette"

Gulping, Cress folded the blindfold into his palht of hi every unspoken confession written across her face, wasn’t terrifying "The doctor’s notes said your optical nerve would continue to heal for weeks on its own"

"Let’s hope it starts healing faster after this I don’t like seeing blurs and shadows" He twisted the blindfold between his fists "One of these days, I just want to open my eyes and see you"

Heat rushed into her cheeks, but the depth of his words hadn’t sunk in before Thorne laughed and scratched his ear "I mean, and everyone else too, of course"

She setting her hopes up again, for the thousandth ti ood friend, and a loyal ain, not once since the battle atop the palace rooftop And so with her, but then he’d start flirting with Cinder or Iko and she’d remember that a touch here or a smile there wasn’t special to hi back toward the door "Of course you want to see everyone"

She stifled a sigh, realizing she was going to have to train herself not to stare at him quite as often as she was used to, otherwise there would be no chance of hiding the fact that, despite all his attempts to persuade her otherwise, she was still hopelessly in love with him