She covered his hand with her own and kissed his palm. "Everything," she whispered.
The kiss he pressed to her lips was not one of heat-filled lust but rather of a good-bye, of a last promise to each other. To find whatever this was again.
Nadir's hands wrapped around her, bending over her and making her grasp to his neck. She could feel the tear on his cheek but wasn't sure if it was his or hers. Because this was the only thing either of them had to look forward to at that moment, and they were choosing to give it up. For the good of their people and the war they hadn't asked for.
She pressed her hands to his cheeks as their kiss deepened. Her heart continued to shatter with every sweep of his tongue against hers. She wanted to hold him until sunrise, pretend this was all a bad dream...
Just them.
The counter was the first of many surfaces he chose to bury himself in her for the remainder of the night.
The Commander did not surface.No. This was the Nadir she'd asked for. Raw and free. Able to tell her of all his secrets and brush them off with his jokes. The bantering, carefree man she'd met at that banquet, making her laugh into the darkness, blush at his whispers, and kiss every inch of her body. Holding her against him as he pushed deep inside her on the bed or over the chair, against the post, and on the table.
Wherever they could hold each other.
She didn't care that her body would be sore the next day or that her neck would be splayed with raised marks as it had been after the banquet. She didn't care that the next day she would have to push herself into the war or that she would have to fight the stares of the people who thought her weak.
What she cared about was him and the freedom they shared together. How when she was with him, she didn't remember the war or what had happened to her family, or even that she was a lost princess.
Here.
On his beach.
In his home.
Holding onto him not as though it were their last moments, but because it truly was. At least for now. The fact that they would have to give each other up with the sunrise made her cherish every moment.
It was the first time she'd ever begged the sun to be late rising.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
NADIR WAS GONE when she woke.
Nyssa groaned into the bedsheets as the memory of the night before rushed through her. Her face was swollen from the tears they'd both shed, not just for each other but also as they'd talked about the war, of how they would bring vengeance for the people they'd lost for it. She knew he would be there if ever she needed him, but until then... She would keep her promise. She would make herself scarce. Train with Lex. Avoid him when possible so that they did not show anything on their faces, as hard as that might be.
Her body ached with satisfaction. How easy it was to share herself with him made her question everything. She was never embarrassed in front of him and instead always felt supported and trusted. The conversations they shared and questions he would ask were different from every other man who usually only wanted to bring her gifts and offer her a place on their arm as thoughthatwere some grand prize and she was not.
Sometimes she thought perhaps she should have listened to her sister.
Because she was falling for him faster than she could catch herself.
Nyssa put clothes on before making her way to the beach.
Standing there, the water lapped around her toes. Her arms reached over her head, and she inhaled the scent of the ocean. She wondered what her brother was doing and if he had made it to Dahrkenhill.
The sun had hardly peeked over the horizon. She stretched her legs, pulling one ankle behind her, followed by the other. Her eagle circled her overhead, screeching out to tell her good morning as she cracked her neck and gazed at the long stretch of beach to the east.
No other thoughts wandered through her mind before she took off in a run.
Her toes hugged the sand with her every step. That morning felt like the first morning of a new beginning. Something about it... She wasn't sure what, but her insides felt numb to the tears that had been present in the weeks before. Replaced with anger, rage, and determination. A desire to actually prove her worth on her own, not whatever it was she had been doing. No more allowing her heart to get in the way of what she had to do.
The weight of it sat heavier on her shoulders. She'd been inside her own head for eighteen days now. She had a job to do. Questions to be answered.
A war to win.
Perhaps that was why she had decided to go on a run that morning without telling anyone.
Truthfully, she wanted to scream one more time at the wind just to be sure she had it all out of her system before she did something stupid.
