"Not bad, Princess," he smirked.
She lunged again.
Nadir cut across her this time. "It's rare for Venari Kings to find true love. Only one past King ever married." He ducked as she swung over him. "He was so confused when he started feeling for her." Nadir paused another moment, and Nyssa watched as the happy memory cascaded over his face. "He went to the mountains after that Council meeting when she ignored him. Wanted to get his head straight, his hands dirty. Pound iron... I still remember how he paced in that armory when she came to the forest for the battle. Ready to lash out at the confusion he felt for her when he didn't know if she felt the same... I don't know that I've laughed so hard since that night."
Nadir pushed her back then, taking advantage of the wave in her concentration. Nyssa swatted. She went forward and blocked his next parry. The ocean wrapped around her feet, and she had to concentrate on holding her ground.
"Really not fair when you take advantage of my love of a good story," she said.
Nadir’s smile broadened over his face. "Think fast."
She nearly skipped backward as he came at her, stick hitting hers with every step. Nearly as fast as he'd battled with his friend the day before. The ocean beat against her legs. She lost balance and wiped out to the ground. Another wave crashed over her head, and she was suddenly covered in sand.
Nadir was grinning at her when the ocean subsided. He held the stick out, but she shoved it away, to which he laughed.
"I told you the ocean was relentless."
"Funny how you think I've never trained in the ocean before," she said, helping herself to her feet. She took her knife from her thigh and ripped a piece of fabric off her shirt to tie her hair up with.
"Hair is going up... Must be serious," he winked, setting his feet again.
She glared poorly at him but grabbed her own stick from the ground nonetheless.
"Tell me about your travels with him," she begged, realizing perhaps he needed to talk about Draven as much as she needed to talk about Aydra.
"Story for story?" he asked.
"Trading stories for wipeouts," she countered and took a step into the ocean.
His chest rose with deliberation as he took a breath to make the decision. But he whirled his stick once and then met her in the water.
"You're on, Princess."
For well into the night, they fought, and with each knock of the other on their back, they traded stories. Nyssa hadn't realized how much she needed to talk about her sister, about what happened to her. She wasn't stupid enough to think it would be a cure. But at least by the time they retired for the night—Nadir wrapping his arm around her shoulders, helping her towel dry her hair and wash off outside so she didn't drag sand into his house. Him simply kissing her hand upon telling her goodnight—The knot in her heart had loosened, if only a fraction more.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IT WOULD TAKE Dorian and Corbin at least four days of traveling to reach Dahrkenhill, possibly longer since they would have to settle well before sunset due to the Dead Moons. The pair had no way to deter the Noctuans, and as the Deads were drawing to a close, they knew the beasts' hunger would grow for one final meal before the curse took them.
Bala had shown them the route they would need to take to avoid being found in the Hills. She urged them not to step foot north in the Forest past the Scindo Creek divide. It was in this area that the Mortis Lunar Pass began. Unless they were on the Impius River, the Forest and sharp mountains would devour them whole, and they would lose their minds before finding their way through it.
Dorian had never traveled through the Knotted Caves path to Dahrkenhill before. The last he'd traveled to the mountains, he'd pushed through the valleys from Magnice, coming up the backside of the mountains before climbing up the peaks.
They only had a few more hours ride to the cave's entrance, but the pair decided they were starving too much to continue without breaking for a few minutes. It was around mid-afternoon that they settled into the edge of the forest for the last time.
One look into the wood, and Dorian decided this part of the forest was far darker than the part where the Venari kingdom resided. The entire aura of it made his skin crawl.
A low fog hung around the ground, seeping and creeping over the root system and dead leaves like shadowed snakes. The air was cooler, damp with the moisture of that fog. Every sound seemed to linger for longer than it should have— like time hanging in the balance of the dense air. The tree trunks were almost black and diseased. Dorian's hair stood on end when he walked inside a short way.
Whatever it was, it made him uneasy.
He wondered if this was part of Berdijay territory.
A shadow passed by, or so he thought. He supposed it could have been a trick: shadow thieves following them as easy prey. Dorian focused a small flame on his shoulder as he relieved himself, hoping the fire would deter any such creature.
Then again, this was the Mortis Lunar Pass. No being ever went very far inside it and came back out alive unless they had a guide.
And there was Dorian. Taking a piss on a tree inside it.
