Guardian (Sequel to Fearless)

Chapter Thirty Two

A/N -- SO I JUST POSTED MY SECOND CHAPTER IN THE LAST TWO DAYS AS A TREAT FOR THE TWO WEEK WAIT. MAKE SURE NOT TO MISS CHAPTER 31!

Just wanted to say thanks guys for the awesome support of this book. How it's looking now, I've still got some tampering to do with the final few bits of the outline... BUT it will probably be around the same length as Fearless (Standing between 55 and 60 chapters long). ALSO! EXCITING... There are now 12/61 fully rewritten Fearless chapters --we're talking brand spanking new (Prologue-Chapter 10, and Chapter 14 to be exact)! Edited chapters have an asterisk at the top along with the date of revision... so if you're interested, head on over and check them out. I can't wait to put more Guardian and more Fearless out there for all of you.

General Zayn was tired, for lack of a better word. He'd worked a lot lately --too much. He'd given up on the search for Iris's sister for the time being and began real work on finding out anything on Baron Riasion that he could --just as he'd promised the Remorda Guardians. For the past week, he'd been sending soldiers to patrol the area while he awaited word from Emperor Rus. He'd received all accounts by now on what had happened at the hamlet, including Iris's account.

Seeing her handwriting again had certainly been interesting.

Zayn waited now on some of his men to arrive back, hopefully with more information about the baron. They'd been able to gather quite a lot on the past few missions he'd sent them on, but it wasn't enough yet. Zayn took a moment to think about the situation at hand. The thought of selling out hundreds of women made the general sick to his stomach. He wished he could just go ahead and march. He had the men... he had all the proof he needed.

A knock came at his door a few minutes, cutting through the impatience he felt. Zayn looked up from his papers at the source of the noise. "Come on in."

The door opened a moment later to reveal an older woman. It was Iris's aunt, Renna. Her eyes flicked around Zayn's office, surveying the surroundings in a manner typical to her. After a moment, she walked up and unceremoniously placed a sack in front of him. "There's lunch. You should eat, or you'll wither."

For the past month, she'd been to several medics to rehabilitate herself from her addiction to drink. That had been good and she'd done well enough for herself to make Zayn believe that she was on the road to recovery. Renna wasn't quite herself yet, true, but she was beginning to show remnants of the woman she had once been. With Iris gone, she'd taken to treating Zayn like a son. Perhaps it was to cope. Either way, the general hardly minded --even if she did ride up to his office more than anyone else.

"Thanks," he said, and he meant it. "I will. How was the ride?"

"Good." For a second, she smiled. "Peaceful. Like always. What about you? How's the baron hunt?"

Yes. He'd told her about Baron Riasion --at least, the essentials. She'd been curious enough regarding the case, feeling equally as bad as Zayn about the entire situation. He groaned. "It's going. That's all I can say right now. Still waiting on a report that should be here within the hour, if the gods are good."

She nodded and once again motioned to the food she'd brought. "Eat. And you should get some sleep too." She drew her tongue behind her thin lips and tsked. "You're going to sag in your skin if you don't rest sometime."

The general grunted and did as instructed, chewing first at the piece of fruit she had put in the bag for him. "Thanks." He swallowed the bite. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Which will be sooner rather than later if you don't take care of yourself," Renna scolded. "We hardly need another corpse lying around by the end of this year." Her words were macabre in nature, and for a minute, Zayn watched as her lips tightened into a sharp line. It was moments like these where Iris's aunt wished she'd just drowned herself a long time ago.