"Lost her fight?" Bala balked. "If anything, it's gotten worse."
Bael stepped forward then and took the reins of the two horses then, and Bala didn't miss the smile he gave the Princess.
"Hey, Princess," he drawled, to which Bala nearly laughed.
The Princess looked like she might smile, but it faltered into a glare, and she raised her chin. "You don't need to lead my horse," she snapped. "I'm perfectly capable of following."
Bala exchanged a grin with Bael. "Better luck next time," she winked.
Bala sighed out the memory, arms crossing over her chest, and she called out to Nadir and Lex on the ocean log.
"Do you two think you can break long enough to greet your King, or should I come back another time?" Bala called out.
Nadir lost his balance at her shout, and he launched himself into the water. But Lex caught her gaze, half-smile quirking on her face, and she jumped from the log to the rocks before Nadir could pull her under.
Bala's chest swelled at the sight of Lex's smile. Having not felt such a moment in weeks, it almost overwhelmed her. Bala skipped over the rocks towards her, and Lex threw the stick to the water at her back.
"Thank the Architects," Lex smiled. "I thought I was doomed to look at the Commander the rest of my days." Lex grabbed Bala around the waist and hauled her flush as she reached her. Lex leaned to kiss her, but Bala pressed a finger to her lips.
"I'm not sure you deserve that," Bala mocked. "I've not heard a word from either of you in weeks."
Lex hung her head, and instead, she simply kissed Bala's forehead and pulled her in for a hug. "Blame the Commander," she shrugged as she pulled back to nod towards Nadir, who was bringing himself up out of the water. "He's put a damper on communications."
Bala's brow raised playfully at him. "Something you're hiding, Nadir?" she asked.
Nadir scratched the back of his head but didn't respond directly. "It's good to see you too, Bala," he said before going to hug her. She returned his embrace, not caring that he was soaking wet and getting her wet as well. He paused and clasped her face when he pulled back, and she noted the sadness in his gaze. Compared to the smile he'd had on him the last time he'd gone to her to trade, which had been weeks before, this was concerning.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"We can talk back at my home," he said. "Let us get out of these clothes."
Nadir urged them back up the jetty, and Bala couldn't help her smile as Lex wrapped her arm around her shoulders.
Lex hardly spoke as they walked, and every time Bala would look at her, she saw that same twinge of sadness in her gaze as had been in Nadir's.
"Has something happened I should know about?" Bala asked Lex.
"We'll talk when we're out of these clothes," Nadir called sternly back.
Bala met Lex's gaze, and Lex shrugged, to which Bala frowned.
"Since when do you listen to his orders?" Bala asked quietly.
The tired sigh that emitted from Lex made Bala tense. "It's new," Lex admitted.
The remainder of the walk was taken in silence, and Lex and Nadir left Bala on the porch while they washed off and changed out of the sandy clothes. Bala pressed her hands into the banister as she looked over the beach, still wondering where Nyssa was and why she had not come to greet her.
“I expected my Princess to welcome me,” Balandria said when the pair reappeared on the porch. “Where is she? I thought surely she’d be barking orders to your people by now. Where—“
Nadir was drying his hair slowly with a towel, his eyes blank and fixated on the steps. Lex's head hung, and she slumped into the chair, leaning over with her elbows on her knees.
Bala’s stomach tightened. She shifted on her feet as a coldness poured through her. She didn’t like the looks on their faces, the aversion of their eyes...
“Nadir, what happened?” Bala demanded to know.
His eyes finally met hers, and he held his hands up. “Calm down.”
Bala’s fist tightened around her knife at her side. “I swear if you did something to her—”
