She wanted to close her eyes again and forget about it. Put herself back in the Commander's arms and hang on to that moment of happiness and the flutter of heart that she could still feel in her chest.
“My Queen rises.”
Unfortunately, reality called her.
Nyssa started to move her feet, but she found herself unable. She realized there were not only ropes around her wrists but around her ankles as well.
“I suppose I should call youfireQueen now,” Gail corrected, popping a piece of dried meat back into his mouth.
"I am not a Queen," Nyssa grunted through her haze. "My sister was the Queen. Not me."
But as she said the words, the kind of Queen he called her rang in her ears.
Fire Queen...
The memory of her losing control entered her mind, and she winced as her temple began to throb. Nyssa shoved the memory back as she forced herself up into a sitting position. Her muscles were stiff, hair matted to her face. Her reality had barely set in when she found Gail staring at her.
“What?” she snapped.
A slow smile spread on his wide mouth. “You choked me last night.”
“And you’re smiling about it."
Gail scoffed. “Be glad I’m getting rid of you tomorrow,” he said as his eyes danced back to her. “I’d marry you otherwise. Law or no law.”
Nyssa glared again at his declaration. She allowed her gaze to look over him, landing on the handprint darkened on his throat. Gail chuckled under his breath and reached for something at his side. Food, she realized. And water.
She took the canteen hesitantly from his hands and unscrewed the cap.
“How long was I out?” she dared to ask.
“Only the day,” he replied, settling back against the grass.
“Did I hurt anyone else?”
“Just me… and Noda.”
Her stomach soured as she remembered the crack she’d felt in her palm. “Her name was Noda?”
“It was,” he sighed. “She was one of my finer sentries. A great warrior… And you snapped her neck like a twig. Burned her body to nothing more than a skeleton in your blackened hands. My father barely had anything to sweep back to his roots.”
Nyssa began to pick at the dried meat he’d given her. “What did it look like?” she asked.
The pause that passed between them was long enough that she knew he was surprised she did not know. Her jaw tightened at the silence, and she cursed herself for ever bringing it up.
“You don’t know?” he asked.
“It’s new,” she sneered, stretching her chin high as she once more began to eat the dried deer jerky. The irritation inside her came out with every forced chew and tug of her teeth on the meat.
For a few moments, it was only the crackle of the flames that filled her ears until Gail sat up, and his arms rested over his knees.
“Is that the first person you’ve ever killed?”
The jerky tasted like ash and dirt. She spat it out. “With my hands, yes,” she finally answered. "I didn't mean to kill her."
“Nevertheless, you did," he said. "I’m glad I was here to see it.”
Nyssa couldn’t stop staring at him now, and not for the reasons she’d been watching him the last three days. She’d killed one of his men, and he was watching at her like he would jump her bones at any minute.
