Page 190 of The Last Guardian

All this time, Zaid had known.

He lied to me. He lied and made excuses to avoid going deeper into the mark. He made me believe he didn’t know why it was on my skin. I’d kept asking myself why he saved me from Haedeon… why he followed me into the King’s Wood. But from the first moment, it was because he was going to kill me.

“Now, isn’t it ironic that two brothers tried to kill you for the exact same reason?” Haedeon said at last.

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Zaid snarled, finally finding his voice.

This was the final straw. A sob escaped my throat. I was so tired… It was all too much: my mother’s death, my own, the truth behind the mark… Zaid. The Order.

“Alyana,” Zaid whispered gently. Too gentle for what he had done.

I shook my head. I couldn’t bear it. His eyes. His voice. My name on his lips… It was too intimate for me; it made my skin crawl.

Zaid’s face stilled. His eyes filled with wrath as he finally glared at Haedeon. Zaidkiel sliced open the throat of the mouthless creature with a glance.

I was losing my strength. Everything turned around me.

My pulse quickened when I felt the buzz in my pocket.

The relic.

It vibrated again, even stronger than before. So strong that my body shook with it. And something stirred. Powerful, nestling inside my soul, through my skin.

A flame. A shadow. A beam of light. It consumed me, entirely.

The relic slipped out of my pocket on its own, floating in the air.

Haedeon hissed when he saw it, and he pushed me away violently with a single movement. I fell to the ground.

The stones of the mountain ripped my skin as my eyes stayed on the relic, buzzing, floating in the air, hypnotizing.

The crystal glistened, brighter than before, illuminating the entire cave, vanishing all darkness. The power inside the relic—the link to my Anchor—brushed against my soul in hot waves as strong as the sea, an unyielding thing that pulled me from the ground and flew me into the air. Brushing against my skin, blowing in my hair, dancing with my blood.

Everything disappeared for a moment. Only the power and I remained; it approached me, taking hold of me, claiming me. And everything fell into place, like an old tale whispered through the ruined time of the world. Something meant to happen, meant to be.

The silver-blue light flooded outward, enveloping me; it possessed me, overwhelming me in every way. It was in my blood, my thoughts, my bones. In every part of my skin, in every hair on my head.

I was aware of it as much as my heart, as much as my soul.

It had been hidden inside me, waiting for me to control it, to use it, to taste it. All I had to do was reach out.

All the infinite possibilities lay within me, just as the entire universe rested in the palm of my hand. As all the stars shone in my veins.

Mine, it purred.

My power.

I WAS INFINITE—a radiant inner flame that burned within the cosmos. A pure light blinding the world in its wake.

As the crystal’s power faded, the cave was plunged once again into shadows and darkness.

Zaid was frozen; his eyes glinted at what had just happened. His mouth parted.

When my feet touched the ground, the energy left my body, coursing and pulsing through my blood.

“You will not survive this cave, Your Highness,” Haedeon vowed, his eyes full of hate. “I am not letting you access the beast if you do not come with us.”

The creatures that had followed him down the stairs were now behind him. Their bulging eyes fixed on Zaid and me.