CHAPTER EIGHT
NYSSA WAS STANDING in the Throne Room.
Her sister struggled against the bindings. Aydra called out, screaming Nyssa’s name, but Nyssa couldn’t move. Her feet were melted into the stone. Belwarks held her arms. She cried out, but nothing left her throat.
Alone.
—She jolted awake.
Dense sunlight warmed her chilled cheeks. Her eagle's cry sounded overhead, and she sighed at his comfort.
The smell of the dew on the forest floor filled her nostrils, her cheeks damp with the minuscule droplets of fog surrounding them. A cool breeze brushed through, and she closed her eyes to take it all in. The chirping birds. The crickets. The morning hum of Venari people down below.
Morning in the forest was a new sensation. She was so accustomed to the noise of crashing waves and the smell of salt that this all made her uncomfortable in her skin.
As if it would take much to do so.
Her back hit the mattress again, and she looked up at the cloud-streaked sky.
One.
All the way up to eleven.
She laid there and counted the numbers, forcing a deep breath into her lungs with each. One breath for every morning since it all happened. One breath for every morning she hoped to one day wake up and find it all to be a dream.
The bed shifted. Nyssa looked over and realized Dorian was lying atop the covers by her side, curled into a ball. His skin was streaked with his form, his body jerking as though he were having a nightmare. Blue light flared beneath those blackened lines, and Nyssa hesitantly pressed the back of her hand to his cheek.
Dorian flinched upright, back stiff.
His eyes were still black when he turned his head to her.
Nyssa swallowed, feeling her heartbeat pick up. "Dorian, it's just me," she managed. "It's Nyssa."
Dorian blinked.
The black receded, and he sighed as his form pushed back inside him. "Shit," he muttered, catching his breath. "Shit—are you—Did I hurt you?"
"No," she assured him.
His hands went to his hair, and he tugged the roots, knees pulling to his chest.
"I'm sorry," he breathed after a moment.
"I know," she said. "At least you didn't catch anything on fire this time," she added, trying to lighten his mood.
Dorian gave her a small smile over his shoulder. He didn't reply and instead fell backward onto the mattress again. He rubbed his forehead and his eyes with two fingers, wincing as though he were in pain.
"Fucking Infi, what did I do last night?" he asked.
"I'm sure Corbin will have the full story," Nyssa replied.
Dorian scoffed. "I'm sure he will. Probably add in a few things just to make me sweat."
"I knew I liked him," Nyssa bantered.
Dorian's brow lifted slyly at her from behind his hands. "Pretty sure his giving me a hard time is not the only reason you like him," he muttered. "Was it not you who I caught him taking in the stairwell after his being named Fire Second?"
"That was a one-time thing," Nyssa glared.
