Page 136 of The Last Guardian

The general observed the room and resumed his pacing one more time. “We don’t kill any Guardian, we don’t attack any Guardian—” He stopped once more. “And we are saving as many as we can. Understood?”

Silence fell in the room as each one of us nodded.

“Great!” Dax said, his grim look replaced by a smile. “Now, training!”

Bennett and Sam moved to the center of the room, accompanied by Jekya and Seth. Zaid approached Dax and said, “Alyana will come with me to resume her training.” His gaze shifted to mine before returning to the general. “I’ll let you keep Dorian and Lyra with the rest. And Arthur too.” Zaid smiled slightly, and Lyra glared at him. “You three,” Zaid said to Arthur and Dax, “teach her how to defend herself.”

“I know how to defend myself,” Lyra retorted, furrowing her brow.

“Well, a little practice can’t hurt, don’t you think?” Zaid replied. After that, he gestured for me to follow him.

In the back, Dax’s hard voice echoed, “Choose your weapon!”

Zaidkiel and I moved next to each other, his hand pressing in a soft caress on my back—the warmth emanating from him igniting me in the process.

His hand wrapped around the knob, and we entered a smaller room in the back. The door shut, startling me. Zaidkiel’s careful footsteps echoed against the floor, thrumming in my ears.

I glanced up at Zaidkiel, who stopped inches from me. The vibrancy of his warmth brushed against me in torturous caresses. I rolled my shoulders, trying to eject the thoughts that kept swirling in my mind.

“Tense?” Zaidkiel smirked, his dimples appearing on his cheeks.

“Not at all,” I said, glancing away. “The mattress on my bed is too hard. Couldn’t sleep properly.”

I cursed myself, biting my tongue as punishment. What in the Hells was I saying?

Zaid grinned, a chuckle vibrating through his chest. “I will make sure to find you a better one, then,” he whispered, his voice as warm as velvet against my skin. “Don’t want you to be exhausted because I have poor taste in mattresses.”

I searched his eyes, his jaw flexing as he cleared his throat. My eyes fell on his lips for a split second, slowing time inside my mind.

“Ready?” He arched a brow, bringing me back in the moment.

I nodded, glad to have the distraction of the Rite mingled with fear of what would happen this time in the Void.

Last time I had fallen into old memories—one I had tried to forget and one I’d been deprived of. Today, we needed the second Threshold.

I readied myself as Zaidkiel’s fingers touched my temples, ignoring how the mere touch of him sent warm shivers through my bones.

His eyes bored into mine, lighting my soul as I let his connection wash over me, leading me to the Void of my mind.

“Ashraj Thraal,” Zaidkiel’s voice commanded as we fell into the dark.

THE DARKNESS WELCOMED me, its shadows sketching the embers of my essence. They danced, burned, embedding themselves in my veins like petals of fire, before igniting the sparkling stars.

“Fuck off, assholes,” Lyra yelled at a group of men waiting for their beer at the bar. The broad one, with a long blond beard tailed with a braid at the tip, eyed her up, his upper lip curling.

The fine smell of ale and spice mingled in the room from too many full, broken glasses, while laughter and chatter thrummed in the back of the Three Foxes. The place was already full of people, candlelight gleaming on the stones of the walls.

“Leave the lady alone, Jorth,” laughed one of his friends, a small man, probably smaller than Lyra, with a mustache and bulging eyes.

“Yeah, listen to your buddy, big guy!” Lyra spat, her wild hair flying behind her when she turned her head. The man’s eyes darkened. His pupils flared, filling his iris with black as he rose from his stool. Still, Lyra didn’t back down. Even from her small height, she stared at the man, her amber eyes burning with wrath.

I stepped in front of her, protecting her with my arms, before the man could touch her; Lyra tried to push me, but I didn’t budge.

“Are you aware he will knock our heads off together?” Lyra whispered hastily.

I glared at her over my shoulder. “Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before insulting him?”

“He whistled at me!” Lyra argued, as the asshole took slow steps to scare us. “I’m not a freaking dog!”