Page 43 of The Last Guardian

On the deck, crewmembers strode in haste to their posts, boots thudding against the planks.

“To help you regain your memory, I need to speak to someone for guidance. Besides, I need to go there precisely for what you’ll help us find,” Zaidkiel replied, heading toward another part of the bridge.

I followed the commander; a late sailor jostled my shoulder as he ran across the deck to join the rest of the crew. “What exactly are you looking for? This… mission of yours?” I protested, my voice swallowed by the shouting orders and the snap of canvas as the ship moved.

Zaidkiel stopped, and I nearly bumped into him. “The details of the mission will come later. Seven fucking Hells, where is that wizard…?” Zaidkiel explained, looking around the bridge for someone.

“Wizard?”

But Zaidkiel moved again, ignoring my question.

“I don’t want to go to Keraneeth.” I stepped next to him, as Zaidkiel continued to search for the… wizard. “Plus, I don’t know anything about this continent!”

“That’s exactly why I am searching for this damn Arystan,” Zaidkiel replied, opening a cabin door to see if the person he mentioned was there. “He will help you adjust and learn a few things before we arrive there.”

My fury was boiling my blood; heat crept up my neck. My hands curled into fists. “I don’t want to go there!” I snapped and stopped in the middle of the deck, rooting my feet to the floor.

Zaidkiel stopped, too; his shoulders tensed as he took a deep breath. Slowly, he turned to face me. His teeth clenched in his muscular jaw as he took two careful steps closer to me.

Every part of my body tensed.

“Even if it’s the only way to regain your memories?” Zaidkiel’s eyes flickered as he raised a brow.

I flinched.

He knew one thing about me, and he was already using it as leverage. What was wrong with me to accept his offer?

But—my mother’s death. My memories. What Nevan did. And maybe other things I’d completely forgotten… I had to remember.

I tried to calm my racing heart and ease the anger that threatened to spill out. I needed to get my memories back. And Zaidkiel was the easiest way to reach my goal right now.

Perhaps Zaidkiel could read this exact thought crossing my eyes, because after a few seconds, where we stayed still, staring at each other, he shouted, his voice raw, reverberating in the air, “Arystan!”

A short, wrinkled man with a long gray beard matching his hair and deep azure eyes stepped near us. “Yes, yes, Commander! I am here. I apologize…” Dressed in a dark robe, the old man bowed at the sight of me. “Oh, Your Highness.”

Zaidkiel slid his hands in his pockets, the dark leather catching the golden rays of the sun. “Arystan will help you familiarize yourself with Keraneeth and…” his eyes drifting to the fifth floor where the woman I saw yesterday—Nefeli—was gesturing for him to come, “he will explain more about what the High Mages kept from your people for so long.”

I went still.

Did he say my people?

A grin curled on the commander’s lips. He winked at me, leaned slightly, and said in a velvet voice, “Enjoy the lesson, Princess.” Then he strode off, his footsteps thrumming against the planks.

MY BODY STILLED at the bottom of the narrow staircase, one hand brushing the damp wooden railing. The sound of the water reverberated through the hull, pulsing below.

Keraneeth.

Seven Hells, I was going to Keraneeth.

No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, I couldn’t believe it. How were we going to cross the border? And what would we find there? My hammering heart wouldn’t calm down.

I was scared.

Of all the things I should be afraid of, one of them was here, with me, on this ship, leading me toward the other thing I had learned to fear. It was terrible… Maybe I was the one who was completely crazy after all, mad to have accepted Zaidkiel’s offer.

The room I entered vibrated with energy thick with salt. To my left, a sea of dark mats covered the floor, while to the right, tall bookcases flanked a row of tables.

I stepped in as Arystan stood near one of the cluttered tables piled high with books, quills, and used parchments.