Page 131 of The Last Guardian

Now the walls were crumbling down.

I spent five years of my life hiding behind a veil, behind everything that could make me feel—to protect my siblings.

The devastation, the wrath when I lost my mother, had been so strong, so alive beneath my skin that I thought I was burning from the inside.

But for them, I willingly accepted it destroying me.

Until I had escaped from Lorath.

And now—tonight, after a day with my oldest friend, after talking to my brothers—I realized that having my siblings, Lyra, here with me had triggered my survival instinct.

It was for them that I used all the dark looks, all the pretty masks, and all the fake smiles to hide the black hole that I had been for so long.

And having them here made me use that mask again. To keep things from them. To lie. To protect.

I couldn’t tell them about the mark or my memories. I couldn’t even think about Nevan without shame.

I couldn’t tell them how the people I had learned to care for during those weeks had become the reason I felt alive.

The light, the fire, the hope, the laughter, and the smiles… They all settled back into my heart. Stronger than they had ever been.

Even now, surrounded by the people I longed to return to, the people I had grown up with and loved all my life, I never felt so alone.

The person I wanted to share all of it with, the person who had freed me from the masks I’d worn for years, was the one I could never risk my heart with…

Zaid.

He never looked at me as if I needed saving—instead, he made me face the parts of myself I’d learned to hide. The darkness, the sorrow, the rot.

He had helped me understand that I didn’t need to be healed from it, only to accept it as a part of me. And only then, the light had begun to return.

Why did he have to make things so complicated? Why did he have to make me drop the mask, the layers, and the walls that I had spent years—an entire life—building inside me?

Why did he always awaken the very thing I always promised myself not to give…

My heart.

“Are you okay, Princess?”

I gasped, turning to face Zaid, who leaned against the door, observing me. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just—” I stopped, searching for the right word; my arms tightened around my chest. I tried to avert my gaze, not to look at him, and failed. But the words never came as a silence fell between us.

Pushing himself away from the door, Zaid took slow, deliberate steps until his legs stopped where I was sitting.

I turned my gaze to the far end of the path as his warmth settled just next to me, his long legs spread across the path in front of us.

For a few minutes, neither of us spoke. Only our steady breaths echoed in the silence. His presence kept me grounded in the present. Zaid was the only one who had that kind of power over me.

Shame, guilt, and anger washed over me at what I felt.

My family had come all this way to find me. They had given up everything for me, and yet, the only person I longed for was Zaid.

Because I could let him see everything. The light, the darkness, the rot, the laughter.

“It’s just… nothing,” I said at first, then let out a shaky laugh. “Everything. I don’t know.” My fingers twisted in my lap as the words tumbled out. “Everything’s changed since I left. The world, the paths, the faces, and even the air feel different. And I—” I hesitated, my voice softening until it was almost a whisper. “I can’t bring myself to be the same person I was before.”

Zaid was quiet for a moment and then said softly, “Perhaps you’re not supposed to be her again.” His voice was low. “Perhaps it’s time for you to live for yourself. Not for others.”

The wind gently rustled the fallen leaves as autumn finally settled, its cool breeze caressing my hair.