The Dark Heir - Nyx

2. Nyx

"You're still staying with me, right?" Zenova asked as she, Nyx, and her father pulled their cloaks on. Nyx grinned at the young female.

"Sure am. Someone has to make sure you stay out of trouble," he teased, flicking the hood of her cloak. The feisty female shot him a lethal glare as she tugged it back on.

"Don't fight already, you have a month of being friendly minimum," Cassian scolded, tugging on a pair of gloves. Nyx snorted and shoved his elbow against his younger cousin.

"If I don't finish the week with a dagger in my throat, I think we are in luck," he responded. Cassian grunted and offered a hand to his daughter. Zenova took it with a bounce in her heels, eager to join the trainees. Nyx took Cassian by the arm and winnowed all of them to Windhaven.

Immediately, Nyx was hit by the unnerving cold. Not only was it the chill of the mountain village, but the memory it held. He shivered as he pulled his hand from his uncle and brushed a dusting of snow from his shoulder.

"Let's go meet the camp lord first, then we will check out the house and village," Nyx spoke quickly, trying to prolong the time before the torture that entering the house will be. He may not think of Theia daily anymore, but entering a house that he hasn't been in since they were together will surely send him spiraling.

He was used to drowning the random sparks of sorrow with whiskey, but his mother forced him to stop drinking away his feelings a decade ago. It wasn't that he thought of Theia everyday that caused him to drink, but she was the start of it. From there, every inconvenience had him chugging anything to numb his mind.

"I heard Silas Rossatos is the new camp lord," Cassian started, taking his daughter's arm to turn her toward the large camp.

"Don't know him," Nyx murmured, shoving his hands into his cloak as he followed the two.

"He was a decent trainee, I think he was in the crew before you. He started moving up in the ranks. Became camp lord a few decades ago," Cass responded. Zenova sighed dreamily, making Cassian whip his head towards his daughter.

"Do you think he's handsome?"

"Is that really a question you're asking your father?" Nyx chuckled, shoving her small shoulder as he met her stride. Zenova laughed as Cassian shuddered.

"Not to mention he's several centuries older than you," he chimed in. Zen rolled her eyes.

"You're like half a millennia older than my mother," she scolded. Cassian shrugged in a way that displayed his loss at the argument. Zenova was smart, but she had taken the largest portion of sass and extreme ego from her parents. Her nearly black hair had lightened through the years, now at a mid-brown tone with golden hues throughout. Her eyes were like her mother's, a smokey blue. Nyx was also several centuries older than her, but he still enjoyed his cousin. They had more bickering sessions than siblings, and had become the closest of friends.

When Nyx learned she would be joining the Windhaven camp, he immediately suggested he stay with her in the house on the hill. It wasn't until they were leaving that he realized what that village meant to him, and what he would find there. It was a small village, and he planned to be a hermit.

They entered the camp grounds sooner than he expected. Nyx felt more comfortable here than in the village, knowing he wouldn't run into a trace of Theia here. The fields and training grounds were filled with elder trainees and warriors, but towards the large building for equipment and whatever else the camp lords did in there, was a gathering of the newest recruits. The camp lord, Silas, was standing in front of the small crowd, his hand resting on the sword at his hip.