Page 104 of The Last Guardian

“You’re needed on the ship. Now!” the man urged. His hard features and gray hair sharpened his face.

“The general asked me to train⁠—”

But Dax emerged from the door in brown fighting leather, making his way to meet us. “You can go, Ben,” he said in a grim tone.

With a nod, the soldier followed the lieutenant, their boots fading away on the paved floor. Dax frowned as he clenched his jaw. Every part of his body tensed.

“Everything alright?”

Dax nodded. “Don’t worry about it. Just saw Zaid.” As he passed his hand through his brown hair, the carved sun on his forehead flared slightly. “You can meet him at the training field now. For the Rite.”

I STEPPED ALONG the sun-baked path that wound to the camp; my footsteps stirring clouds of dust.

My boots creaked against seashells as I passed a row of tents still standing, their flaps fluttering in the sea breeze. The golden mountains rose in the distance, dust swirling with the wind as I turned once more.

For the last half hour, I’d been searching for the training field in vain. Frustrated, I paused when I walked in front of the same tents as earlier and almost turned back to return to the house.

“Need help?”

I jumped in surprise, and I turned to face Seth—the man who had been present the night we celebrated Firelight on the beach. Seth’s wide smile greeted me, his long hair falling down his back.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, trying to hide his amusement. “You just seem lost.”

I smiled back and replied, “Yes, actually, I am. Could you direct me to the training field?”

“I’d be happy to!” Seth gestured for me to follow him.

We stayed silent, walking around the camp, and only the sound of our footsteps echoed around us. My gaze drifted to the tents that had fallen on the ground after the storm, furniture completely destroyed by the wind and rain.

A buzzing noise flew around as the children laughed and ran from a small, flying brown ball of fur, its wings as fluffy as the rest of its round body.

“What is that?” I asked, my eyes wide at the flying thing chasing the children, as Seth stopped in the middle of the path, rows of tents surrounding us.

“Oh, it’s a korhav,” Seth replied, “a kind of river animal. The children must have woken it up in the forest. It’s a little wild, grumpy creature. But it’s not mean. It just wants to warn them not to do it again. They certainly won’t listen to it.”

The korhav rushed towards the children as fast as it could; they all screamed together. The little round creature ran off with a laugh that sounded like a roar of laughter.

I laughed at that so hard that my eyes burned with tears. I looked at Seth, who was laughing too, when the flap of a tent opened.

My eyes turned and faced Zaidkiel’s green gaze. His eyes moved to Seth, his jaw clenched, his hand flexing at his side.

“What are you doing here?” Zaidkiel asked Seth, his tone sharp.

“I was just leading her to the training field.” Seth shrugged, ignoring Zaidkiel’s tone as if he weren’t his commander, and I wondered whether military superiority worked around here.

Zaidkiel’s eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. “Looks like you’re having fun. Aren’t you supposed to be controlling your warriors in other areas?”

Seth cleared his throat and turned to me. “I should go.” He took my hand and kissed the back of it. “Don’t be a stranger and come see me whenever you want.” Seth’s smile grew even wider as he winked at me.

Then Seth turned away, leaving Zaidkiel and me standing in the middle of the path.

I turned back to Zaidkiel with a frown on my face. “Why are you so dismissive with him?”

The commander looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “He’s not paid to have fun and flirt around. That’s all.”

“He was not flirting.” I sniffed, rolling my eyes. “I was lost and he helped…” I stopped and looked at him, my heart stumbled. “Are you jealous, Commander?”

Zaidkiel chuckled softly. ”Aren’t you confident now?” A smirk twisted his lips. “Are you obsessed with me, Princess?”