Page 200 of The Last Guardian

He should have because now… Everything came back in force.

Nefeli downed the rest of the liquid in one gulp. “How is that even possible that Brazen is still alive?”

“That’s not Brazen anymore, Nefeli,” Zaidkiel uttered. “I saw his eyes, the way he spoke. I don’t know where he is or what happened to him, but he’s not the same as before.”

The moment Zaidkiel had seen everything… The moment Brazen plunged the dagger inside Alyana’s chest would forever be etched in his memory.

The way her eyes lost their light. He felt the world shatter in two with her death.

And Brazen’s eye—the crimson one haunted Zaidkiel.

“What happened back there?” Nefeli asked. “Why hasn’t she woken up? What did you awaken in that place?”

The moment the Sankyanoia emerged from the shadow, something struck Alyana. The bond between her and the creature, the power that linked them together, woke something.

The mountain had shaken to its core. Zaidkiel had felt it in the air, in the sea.

It was magic… But different from Keraneeth.

Older. Wilder.

Darker.

“I think the creature prevents her from waking up. Until the bond has completely settled between them…” Zaidkiel admitted, lowering his gaze. “Perhaps her injuries are much more serious, and that, plus the connection between them, weakens her.”

Zaidkiel sighed. Fucking Hells, she has to wake up.

“What happened with Dorian?” Zaidkiel added, trying to ease the dark thought that made his dark flames prickle beneath his fingers.

Since his return, Dorian had been different. Grimmer, quieter. Like he carried some invisible weight that no one could see, could understand.

The laughter that used to come so easily was gone from him. Only silence remained, with the kind of look that lingered just a moment too long. A look always on the sea.

“That’s precisely why I asked you that,” Nefeli said, still without looking at him. “The ground shook beneath us. And I was ready to return to the ship, but… Dorian was too close to the shore. Something took him. It was so big, I didn’t have time to see what it was, just that one moment he was there, on the rock. And in a blink, he was gone. Gone. Caught by the sea itself.” She stopped for a moment, sipping her drink. “I thought he was dead. He should be dead, Zaid. Jekya and I tried to find him, but the sea was raging too much. Until—” She stopped, finally meeting his gaze.

“What?” Zaidkiel urged.

“Something emerged from the sea…” She paused for a moment, as if she wasn’t sure what she had seen. With a hard swallow, she added, “This creature isn’t supposed to be real, Zaid.”

“What is it?” Zaidkiel insisted.

Nefeli swallowed hard. Her eyes darkened. “A kraken,” Nefeli said at last.

Zaidkiel stilled; his blood went cold.

A kraken? The kraken was a myth. A thing they read in children’s books.

“But Dorian is still alive…” Zaidkiel observed, slowly realizing what it meant. He rubbed his temples. “Fuck. If Dorian is still alive, it means one thing…”

“The kraken is his Guardian now,” Nefeli finished in a low murmur.

By the Ten!

Zaidkiel stood up, seeking a moment of peace through the window of his quarters. He tried to keep his heartbeat as steady as that of the woman sleeping below. Only that call could calm him now.

Fucking Hells.

Zaidkiel’s nostrils flared. Alyana was the main priority; they needed to prepare her, to help her master and understand her power. Her bond to the beast. Her true lineage.