"No one can promise me that," she said. "I'll have to face that fear eventually. With great retribution as I'm sure it will be presented to me in the grandest of fashions." She twirled the stick in her hands once. "What about you?" she asked. "What scares the great Commander of Haerland's oldest army?"
Nadir stared at the ground as though he were thinking over the question, and a silence rested between them as they started pushing at each other again.
"Ah... Failure," he admitted.
"Anything more specific or just general failure?" she asked as she blocked his overhead swipe.
"Everyone in Haerland depends on our reef and goods," he said. "It's not just our home. It's our entire way of life."
He avoided her gaze as he spoke, and she realized perhaps that no one had ever asked him such a question.
"If this reef falls, Haerland falls." He paused, finally meeting her eyes. "The Venari depend on us, and the Dreamer villages trade a great deal with us. If we were to lose this reef, the Venari would have to eventually pack up their kingdom and go somewhere new."
"I didn't realize so much sat on your shoulders."
"I wouldn't trade it," he said. "If anyone else was in charge of keeping my people safe, I would be a very poor soldier."
"Why's that?"
He shrugged as he pushed forward again. "I like knowing that I am in charge of my own fate, and if that means being in charge of the fate of our entire world, then so be it."
"A true hero," she mocked. "Funny, I've never met one before."
Nadir gave her a sideways grin. He caught her stick in his hands then and yanked her forward. She stumbled, catching herself in his arms. Her breaths shortened when he stretched over her, and his hand came to rest on the small of her back.
"Should I remind you what your great hero likes to do to Princesses?"
She had to ignore the chill running up her spine. "Princesses—plural," she mocked, the whisper of banter finally not feeling foreign on her tongue. "Do tell how many other princesses you've seduced into your bed during your immortal life."
"How manyI'veseduced?" He laughed, still hanging onto her. "Do we need to go over who seduced who that night?"
"No one forced you to my room," she grinned.
"Youkissedme."
"And you're constantly saying things that warrant me wanting to kiss you."
Nadir scoffed, the smirk softening on his lips. She could have drowned in the dilated gaze he leered at her with or sank herself into the abyss that was his hand now on her cheek...
"I forgot how easy it was to talk to you," he almost whispered, eyes searching over her face. "I forgot how easyallof this was with you..."
Nyssa swallowed as she found herself agreeing with him. "So did I," she whispered.
As he leaned down, Nyssa's lips trembled. For a brief second, she considered giving in, and the thought made her heart flutter. His hand wrapped around her neck, only the stick between them... His lips brushed hers—
She struck his abdomen, and Nadir doubled over, head falling on her shoulder, his groan sounding loud against the crashing waves. His eyes rolled up to meet hers, and she grinned.
"You should run, Princess," he croaked out.
She barely made it thirty feet before he caught her up in his arms, her feet swinging out as he grabbed her from behind. He swung her in a circle. The laugh that emitted from her didn't sound like her own. As though it belonged to a Princess who knew nothing of the war and her own reality. Her feet met the ground again, and she struggled against his grasp, but he was too strong, and after a moment, she found herself surrendering. Sighing her back into his chest, settling in his embrace. Closing her eyes as he held her tighter, his forehead pressing to her temple as they steadied their balance.
And for just a moment, she allowed her heart to rest in the comfort of him.
Hidden away from all the stares of his people, the judgment and worries of what comes next.
Just them.
But the Ulfram howled from the woods, and Nyssa's heart sank. Nadir brushed from beside her, still holding gently on her arms as they stared at the Forest of Darkness.
