—“We’re taking a smoke break?”
Lex’s voice brought Nyssa back to the present. Dorian was packing his pipe at her side, leaning against the tree trunk. He slumped his arms into his lap upon Lex coming beside them and lifted his tired eyes to hers.
“My sister is in pain. We will rest until she is ready to get moving again,” he declared sternly. “Besides, I am starving, and I’ve not seen her eat in at least two days.”
“You speak as if I am supposed to know what exactly it is you want me to do, Prince,” Lex snapped. “I am not your Second or your servant.”
“I’ve no crown on my head, so I expect you to do nothing,” he told her. “But as my friend, could you hand me our food bag?”
The corner of Lex’s jaw tightened, but she reached around onto her own horse and took a bag from the saddle. She didn’t toss it at them. Instead, she curled her feet under her and sat down at Nyssa’s side. She took an apple from the inside and leaned back against the tree, pulling her knife from her side as she started cutting the fruit in her hand.
Dorian was staring at Nyssa with an expectant brow when Lex left the bag in front of them.
“Don’t let this take you back there, Nys,” he said softly. “Our mother isn't here anymore to put that in your head. You’ve worked too hard to sink back into those depths.”
She knew what he meant, but it didn’t stop her hand from shaking as she grabbed a bread roll. She opened the bottle Dorian had given her and shot a gulp of the burning liquid down her raw throat. Her nose furled at the sweet fire liquid, and she made a face at him.
“I thought it was just whiskey,” she managed in a rasp. “You didn’t tell me it was nyghtfire.”
A crooked smirk rose on his lips as he finished packing his pipe. He didn’t respond and instead simply lit the end of his pipe with his finger, then pressed it between his lips. His eyes fluttered with the inhale, head resting in the dip in the tree at his back, and then he held it out for her to take.
She eyed him. “You realize you’ve never actually allowed me to do that before, right?”
He chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, well, before all this, I was certain you would need to be the clearest minded of the pair of us—”
“In other words, you were overprotective,” Lex uttered. “What kind is that at any rate?” she asked, leaning up to see around Nyssa. “That better not be—”
“The normal kind,” Dorian cut in. He turned back to Nyssa. “It will calm your mind from all that overworking it’s doing.”
Nyssa hesitantly took it, feeling her anxiety creep up. She didn’t want to do it wrong. She wasn’t even sure there was a ‘wrong’ way to do it.
“Nys, you don’t have to smoke it,” he told her.
“No, I want to,” she insisted. “If it will help calm my mind, I want to.”
Dorian gave her a nod and leaned back against the tree. She fumbled with it again, allowing the sweet smell to pulse through her nostrils. After a moment, Dorian sat back up, apparently noticing her hesitation, and he leaned forward to hold it for her.
His explanation was brief. Nyssa frowned but did as he told her anyway.
She nearly fell over at the choke of the smoke leaving her body.
The noise of Lex’s soft chuckle and the feeling of her hand on her back made Nyssa glare at her over her shoulder.
“Shut up.”
“Give it, Prince,” Lex said, gesturing him with her hand.
Dorian took the pipe from Nyssa and extended it to Lex, who pressed it to her lips without a skip. Dorian rubbed Nyssa’s back. Abruptly, her head began to spin, but not the spin that had consumed her during her attack.
This was a numbing spin she held on to with a close of her eyes, her fingers digging into the cold dirt. She blinked a few times, unsure if this was what it was supposed to do. Dorian handed her the water, which she drowned down her burning throat.
“We’re two hours from the Venari roost, and you three are taking a smoke break?” came Corbin’s disapproving drawl.
Dorian leaned against the tree again. “Come now, Second. Loosen up. Join us.”
“One of us should be sober and prepared for the ambush we’re certain to find ourselves in if we sit here much longer,” Corbin said.
A freedom Nyssa wasn’t used to ran through her muscles. She suddenly felt like she could take on anything—but her mind told her she should just relax, enjoy the forest scents.
