Speaking of scents… She’d never smelled dirt so fresh before.
Dying leaves. Dirt. Mist. It was the smell of winter in the southern Forest. A cold breeze rippled through the conjunction of roots all around them. She could smell its crispness before she saw it.
And then the rain began.
Soft droplets hit Nyssa’s face. Her first instinct was to protest, but as the cold water soaked into her skin, the first smile in a week spread over her face.
Quiet laughter filled her ears, and she realized it was her own.
It was a melodic pitch of laughter she thought her insides had banished, and her face scrunched at the wonder of such a feeling against her skin. Her head tilted back, eyes closing… she stuck out her tongue and let the cold liquid dance in her mouth. She reached her hands out, relishing the sting of the droplets on her palms.
This was rain as she’d never felt before.
Raw. Succumbing. Free.
Her sideways bangs and long hair matted quickly to her head and her shoulders. Dorian’s laughter mingled with hers. She turned, watching him with only one eye open, his mouth agape as he allowed the water to drop in his mouth and on his tongue.
Her brother. So haunted only minutes before, now smiling with her at her side. Black hair pressed flush to his forehead and over his ears. He grinned at her, nose crinkling as his laughter matched her own.
He held his hands up to the sky, gathered some of the water, and she squealed when he threw it in her face. She wavered off-balance, falling into Lex's arms. Lex's quiet chuckle joined them, and Nyssa watched Dorian eye the Second Sun over her shoulder.
"Don't you dare, Prince," Lex warned.
Dorian reached down into the dirt, delighting danger in his wicked gaze as he reared back to launch. But the noise of Corbin cursing at the sky made the three pause.
“There is seriously something wrong with you three,” Corbin determined, hands sitting haughtily on his hips.
Dorian and Nyssa exchanged the same grin, and she knew he was thinking the same as she.
“What’s wrong, Bin?” Dorian mocked over the sound of the pounding rain, hand curling in the dirt once more. “Getting a little wet?”
Dorian threw a flick of mud at his Second.
Nyssa snorted.
The mud landed straight across Corbin's face.
Nyssa fell into Lex's lap again upon seeing the anger stretch over Corbin's features. But Corbin took it in stride, and he bent down and gathered his own palm full of mud.
He was aiming for Dorian, but Dorian grabbed Nyssa and ducked behind her just in time. The mud splattered on the side of Nyssa's ear and hit the tree. Had she been sober, she would have gathered her wits and chased the Fire Second, who was now staring wide-eyed at her as he realized what he'd done. But Nyssa was spinning too much to stand, and it was all she could do to see straight when Dorian and Lex both rose from the ground.
Apparently, Dorian had struck Lex with mud as well. She chased him down over the roots, shouting his name and cursing his existence. Watching Lex chase her brother as she'd done so many times when they were younger brought life to Nyssa's numb heart.
“What the—The fuck is going on here?!”
Dorian nearly slipped on the mud as he skidded to a halt. As Nyssa leveled out, she realized they were no longer alone.
"Oh shit,” she managed, her laughter fading.
But Dorian grinned as he turned around, pushing a muddied hand through his wet hair and moving it off his forehead.
“Venari King,” came his mocking drawl. “I wondered how long it would take you to find us.”
CHAPTER SIX
Venari soldiers surrounded them.
They stood in the trees and on the ground, poised to strike with arrows drawn and swords pulled. As to how they’d snuck up on the group so quietly, Nyssa wasn’t sure.
