She wasn’t sure what to say, The great tail curled up and wrapped around her then, feeling like a comforting blanket of warm shadow on her skin.
This is what my fire feels like.
Is it?
Nyssa nodded.
She could have sworn she saw a smile rise on the great beast’s beak.
We start when the Eyes rise, Nyssari. Until then, work on your breathing. Find your voice. Train. I will see you soon.
“What’s our plan?” Lex asked Nyssa as she joined her on the end of the jetty soon after the Sun left her.
“The Sun says she will help with my fire,” she told her. “Nadir wants to help me with balance, spears, reading the language when we have time. I'm leaving the arrows and horseback obstacles to you. Hopefully, by the time the Sun comes back, I can move into training with his unit.”
“His unit, huh?” Lex repeated, the obvious innuendo playing on her tongue. “You know, I thought I heard screams off the coast late last night…”
Nyssa almost threw a rock at her. “Not like that.” But even as she said it, she felt a smile on her lips.
“Ooo… I know that look,” Lex mocked. “Let’s hear it, Princess. What tricks of the great Commander?”
“Bubbles.”
The word left Nyssa’s lips before she could stop it. She pushed to her feet and almost laughed at the look on Lex’s face.
It was the first time she’d ever seen Lex speechless.
Lex blinked like she was coming back into reality. “Sorry, did I hear you say what I think you did?”
“Yes,” Nyssa confirmed. “Bubbles.”
Startled brows arched high on Lex’s face, and she started to gesture what she was thinking with her hands. “As in… He—”
“Yes.”
“Out there—”
“Yes.”
“Under the—”
“Oh yeah.”
“Fucking Infi, Princess,” Lex finally determined. The slow grin spread on her face again, and she took Nyssa's outstretched hand. “Guess that water breathing is good for more than just swimming,” she added with a wink.
Nyssa bit her lips together, pulling Lex to her feet, and she remembered Nadir's head between her legs, the weight of the water around them. “Means nothing,” she said in a breath. “I—“
The sight of people running made Nyssa's words stop in her throat. She paused as Lex brushed her pants off.
"What is happening?"
People were crowding around the trail from the Forest. She couldn't make out who it was.
Until the sight of shaggy black hair made her stomach drop.
Nyssa pulled the dagger from her thigh and began cutting her wet dress.
"What are you doing?" Lex asked. "What's happening? Can you see anything?"
