"I felt her, I felt my sister, I felt Drae—“
But it was a soft smile that spread over her lips—a smile in recognition of her sister, feeling the comfort of her instead of her absence.
"I felt her," Nyssa finally said.
She could see the tears in Lex's gaze, and Nyssa wrapped her arms around her. She would have given anything to let Lex feel what she'd just felt. A tear dropped on her cheek from Lex, and Nyssa hugged her tighter.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LEX TRIED TO get Nyssa to go back to the house, but Nyssa wasn't ready. She wanted to sit in the quiet a little longer, relish the night air for the first time in two weeks without fearing the Noctuans' cries. Lex asked if she wanted company while she thought, but Nyssa told her no, even though she was sure Nadir would not let her stay on her own for long without his curiosity getting the best of him. Lex retired and gave Nyssa's hair a ruffle before leaving her out on the rocks.
Nyssa wasn't sure how long she sat there on her own—cross-legged on the last rock on that jetty, watching the moons rise over the calm water. But after a while, she surrendered back to the beach.
A noise caught her ears to the East, and she noticed Nadir alone by the river, loading boxes onto one of his boats as though getting ready to trek upriver. He cursed under his breath when a splinter caught his thumb, and she watched him suck out the wood and spit it on the ground.
"Great Commander being taken down by a splinter," she mocked, hugging her arms around her chest when she reached him. "Do you need some help?"
Nadir huffed amusedly and gave a nod towards the crates to her left. "I can always use help," he said. "Can you pass me those?"
Nyssa picked up a crate and passed it to him. "Big trip tomorrow?"
"Upriver to see Bala. She's forest meats to trade for fish my men caught," Nadir said. "Don't worry," he winked, "I'll be back to tell you goodnight."
She almost laughed. “Will you be tucking me in as well?" she bantered.
"Depends on if you're asleep,” he answered as she handed him another crate.
"Really? Here I thought sleeping wouldn't be what deterred you from taking what you wanted."
That low chuckle emitted from his lips, and he circled slowly back to her.
—He gripped her arms and hauled her up. She was tossed in the air once she was level with him, making her yelp, and she had to wrap her legs around his waist upon falling back into his grasp. His hands strapped beneath her bottom, and her breath caught from him holding her like that again.
"Would you rather I take you right now on this boat? Finish what we started earlier..." His lips dragged across her throat, and Nyssa limped. She felt his hand moving closer between her thighs, and her mouth sagged when he grasped her ass hard enough to bruise.
"Should I make you scream my name for every person in this village to find out who exactly the Princess gets on her knees for?" he nearly purred.
Nyssa’s hips bucked into his, inner thighs tightening around him. "Should you like them to also find out who their Commander gets on his knees for?"
Nadir scoffed at her banter but didn't press. "I know you didn't come here to flirt, Princess," he said before kissing her jaw. "I know you want to talk about that phoenix—“ her eyes fluttered as he mouthed her throat, hands still massaging her backside “—And I am also rather curious to know what she wanted."
It took everything in her to pull him off her neck. "How do you expect me to tell you anything when you're doing that?"
"Multitasking," he shrugged.
Her lips pressed together thinly, and he chuckled as he gave her ass a smack and then put her back on the ground. Her neck remained heated, heart thumping rapidly in her chest from his holding her, but she hopped down from the boat and brushed herself off.
"The Sun said something—“
"So that was the actual Sun?" Nadir interjected.
Nyssa nodded, just realizing perhaps Nadir had not heard that Draven had released the phoenix. "It was. She bonded with Drae after Draven released her."
Nadir shook his head, almost looking as though he would laugh at any moment. “That bastard performed part of the Red Moons ritual.”
“What’s that?” Nyssa asked.
“You don’t know what the Red Moons are?”
