Page 113 of The Last Guardian

Zaidkiel’s body faced the door, trying not to wake me as he tried to put the handle back onto the stone door.

Air evaporated from my lungs in mere seconds—the air thick. I glanced at Zaidkiel’s broad, bare back, crouched at the door. His shoulders flexed with every twist of the lock.

I took the towel from the stone behind my head and got out of the bath. The water beaded on my skin as I tried my best to fight the chill in the air around me. Shivers spread on my spine.

“What in the Seven Hells are you doing here?” I shouted, my voice still hoarse from the little sleep I had had. Zaidkiel jerked, nearly dropping the handle, but didn’t turn.

“Door’s jammed, just fixing it.” His low voice was clipped as he stood up.

I passed by him, and Zaidkiel instinctively took a few steps back, like my presence was unbearable. I rolled my eyes, pulling at the door. Once. Twice. Still stuck from the inside.

Damn the stars for this. I clutched the towel hard against me, trying my best not to notice how high it fell on my thigh.

“Can’t you knock before entering a room? Or, I don’t know, look around and see if someone is in there.” I gestured to him, but Zaidkiel was still not looking at me.

I returned to where I stood before, near the bath, as Zaidkiel took a step forward to look at the door and the lock.

“I knocked, and no one answered. Didn’t realize you were still in here,” Zaidkiel muttered under his breath, jaw tight, his back to me.

From where I stood, I could see the tattoos: on his broad back, along his spine, a column of runes or inscriptions, on his muscular shoulder blades, a sun setting over raging waves, from which emerged a crescent moon. Magnificent.

His muscles tensed, and the urge to reach out and touch him burned beneath my skin. He groaned at the lock.

I didn’t realize you were still in here.

Still.

Well, at least I wasn’t paranoid; he had, in fact, been avoiding me for days. Zaidkiel knew I was around and waited to be sure not to cross my path.

Why? Why did he have to ignore me like this?

His eyes flicked, just for a second, over his shoulder, noticing the towel around me, a flush creeping up his neck as he snapped his gaze back to the lock.

“Great!” I muttered to myself.

“Trust me, the last thing I want is to be stuck in here with you like—” He cut himself off, lips pressed tight.

I flinched, and I thanked every star that he hadn’t faced me to see how his words affected me. “Like what?”

Still, Zaidkiel didn’t speak. He stayed utterly silent. His shoulders rose and fell unevenly.

“Is that some kind of magic trick you’re doing?” I asked, irritation echoing in my tone. “Why does the door open from the outside but not from the inside?”

He scoffed. “I didn’t ask to be locked in either…” He stopped mid-sentence and pressed his forehead against the door, cursing as if he was realizing something, gritting his teeth. “Fucking Nef.”

“What?” I retorted, my eyes widening. “Is she doing this?”

Zaidkiel fumbled loudly, backing away from the door but never turning to look at me.

“It’s a trick she liked to do when we were younger.” He tried to push the door open with all his might—his big hands hit the door, and I wondered how he could not be in pain from such a violent blow on stone. “We can’t hear what’s going on outside, but she can. She’s probably right behind it, listening.” Then Zaidkiel shouted in a menacing voice, “Nef, don’t fuck with me. I’m warning you, I’ll kill you if you don’t open this fucking door right now.” He crouched, looking through the lock to see if he saw anything. “Fucking Hells.”

Not that I was enjoying the situation either, but the way being locked in a room with me was torture for him made me boil from the inside.

“You could at least pretend my presence isn’t so unbearable!” I retorted, trying to suppress the hurt in my voice. “You ignored me for days. Am I not worth your time, Commander?”

“Don’t,” Zaidkiel warned, shaking his head and getting up, still facing the wall.

“I didn’t ask to be here in the first place, and we were getting along fine until…” I paused. The pounding in my ears thrummed like drums about to explode. “You shut me out and avoid me completely,” I said. My voice broke in my throat. “You… you said I wasn’t alone anymore. And I thought you would be there to help me through all this shit. For a moment, I thought—” I stopped, biting my lower lip and trying hard not to let my emotions get the best of me.