Page 46 of The Last Guardian

Arystan nodded.

“What is it?” I frowned.

Arystan leaned closer and whispered, “It’s the⁠—”

“I think that will do for today, Arystan,” a deep, velvet voice interrupted him.

I jumped up from the chair and faced Zaidkiel, who was leaning against the door frame.

Did he have a habit of startling people like this?

The old man spoke softly, muttering some curses within his beard as he cleared the table of books. And then Arystan vanished—vanished.

“Seven Hells! Where has he gone?” I asked, panic rising in my pulse.

“Calm down.” Zaidkiel chuckled. “It’s an old trick he likes to play. Nothing out of the ordinary… for a wizard.”

“But…” My gaze swept the empty room. Nothing had moved, except for Arystan. “He was just there.”

Zaidkiel gave a slight shrug with a laugh. “That’s his thing: disappearing without warning, keeping people on edge.”

“It’s not funny,” I mumbled, almost to myself. “Can’t you at least be understanding?”

“You’ll get used to it,” Zaidkiel added.

“He didn’t speak a word or cast a spell. No gestures⁠—”

“It’s not a show. Most humans have that exact thought about magic, but it’s much more subtle than that.”

I blinked as Zaidkiel’s words sank in.

Most humans have that exact thought.

Like…

No.

I stared at the man—his broad stature and height, his eyes gleaming like real gemstones.

The way he had jumped from the balcony back at the palace, in an unnatural, almost feline movement…

The flickering candlelight in the room played across his face, highlighting the sharp lines of his features—the glimmer in his eyes.

“Are you human?” I narrowed my eyes, leaning back on the edge of the table.

Zaidkiel inched forward, the shadows wrapping around his frame. He was barely a foot away from me when he leaned in.

My skin tingled with the heat of his body. His chest was way too close to mine, his face so close that his breath caressed my skin. Zaidkiel rested his hands on each side of me on the table. I tensed.

For a moment, his eyes stared so intensely at me that I averted my gaze. And my eyes fell on where his right hand rested, on the tattoo that looked like my mark.

My heart beat loudly in my chest, and Zaidkiel didn’t answer. I didn’t wait for him to.

Instead, I blurted out, “Are you finally going to tell me why I have a mark that looks like your tattoo?”

Zaidkiel’s eyes flickered, his breath fanning my skin as he whispered with a smirk on his lips, “Curious, aren’t you?”

I gave him a flat smile. “It’s weird to find someone with the same pattern on their skin, don’t you think?”