NIVIAN

A long time ago

NIVIAN LIFTED HER hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the late afternoon sun as she meandered through the market. Of all the assignments she could have been given, market day was her least favorite. She hated it. Hated the way the stench of so many sweaty, unwashed bodies hung thick on the air. It churned her stomach as they crowded the narrowed streets, pushing their way in every direction from one vendor to the next.

A dark shadow caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She turned, bobbing her head back and forth and bouncing on her toes. Too short. Someone like Finn or Kain, or any of the others were better suited to this duty. They had the height she lacked. Though, she refused to let it stop her from doing everything she could to protect the balance.

She pushed herself up on her toes in an attempt to get a better view of the crowd and was rewarded with an elbow to the ribs by a passerby, knocking her off balance and into the front of a vendor’s stall.

“Sorry,” Nivian muttered. She held her breath, trying to push down a huff of exasperation.

“Would you care for something?” the merchant asked, his voice frail and dry.

Nivian ignored the old man. She needed to find a better vantage point because if she saw what she’d suspected—

A clammy, bone thin hand shoved something into her own. She took a step away, moving toward the figure.

“Two silvers, please.”

Still she didn’t look back. She kept her gaze forward, searching. But she reached into her pocket and pulled out three coins and dropped them onto the surface of the booth.

A flicker of light and then a small gap opened between the people, and she saw exactly what she was looking for. One of the Dark Guardians was weaving through the crowd.

Then another flicker of light.

“This is too much—” the merchant started, but she was already pushing her way through the throng of bodies.

As she moved, the people jostled her back and forth, but she pressed on. Blindly, Nivian shoved the metal object into her pocket with no idea, and little care at the moment, as to what she’d haphazardly purchased.

The Dark Guardian seemed to be moving at random. Nivian couldn’t be sure if it sensed her presence and was playing with her, taunting her, or… yet another flash of light appeared within the crowd.

It should be drawn to its mark, not searching it out like a lost child. Though the Dark Guardian didn’t once look back, she couldn’t take the chance that it was only toying with her. As it moved to the right, so did she, swerving again when it abruptly changed direction.

Maybe it was her own paranoia, but something about its movements felt off. One of Nivian’s eyes developed a small twitch. If this thing was messing with her… she practically growled in annoyance and pushed her way closer, with more force, throughout the crowd, needing to get a better look. Slowly she gained on it.

Sweat dripped down her temple. There was no sticking to the shadows now, not if she wanted to see what it was up to.

A chill scraped down her spine despite the intense heat of the day, sending goosebumps racing along her skin. Nivian froze in place. Slowly, she turned her head to look behind. Several yards in the distance, another Dark Guardian stood tall, towering over the crowd. It was too far to make out his features beneath the black hood. Yet Nivian knew his eyes were on her. The weight of its gaze sat heavy upon her shoulders. Watching her, observing her.

He was there—for her, even though it was not her time. She was a Watcher, not a mortal. This could very well have been a trap. Something sinister. If it was, she’d fallen into it without a second’s hesitation.

What are they up to?

Her heartbeat slowed down until it all but stopped in her chest.

Of all the days to be put on solo duty.

Nivian wished Kain had been assigned with her. They almost always patrolled together. It was rare for a Watcher to go out alone. But Yeva had needed him for something she had decided neither Nivian, nor the others, needed to be privy to.

But she didn’t have time to worry about herself. She had to make sure they would not reap a human whose time had not yet come.

Nivian turned and ran toward the first, using her momentum to push her way through the throng with her shoulder.

As she neared the edge of the crowd, the space between bodies grew. She moved faster. Her movements stealthy, now unnoticed by the denizens walking about.

She readied her power in each hand, ready to strike if necessary.

Finally, Nivian broke through, stopping abruptly in the cross roads that led farther into the city and out toward the surrounding villages, including her own.

The first Guardian continued on as if she didn’t follow closer and closer behind. He pulled at the life threads of the mortals as he passed, making them vulnerable. Not just one, several. The glow from the collective threads would have been enough to turn night into day. She had never seen so many at once—not even when a mass reaping was necessary.

No, this Dark Guardian was not reaping a mark.

Gaia… He was playing with them. Threatening the balance with his reckless actions.

Nivian reached forward, throwing herself into the next mass of humans between it and her. They were closing in on the end of the market. She had to get to him before he reaped anyone and transported away.

Several more life threads were exposed. She was so close but still too far. She couldn’t stop it from here, but she had to try.

Nivian forced her body to move faster as she focused on the pearly white grin, too wide, too big, too uneven to be natural, peeking from under its hood. The thin lips of this rogue Guardian vanished in the maniacal expression.

Long fingers reached overhead as they wrapped around a scythe. But there was no watch in sight. It was the one symbol she, and every Watcher, grew to know that a mark had been assigned and the reaping was to be completed… for the balance.

Time seemed to slow, and no matter how hard she pushed, her body wouldn’t move faster. The Dark Guardian swung his arm, the sun glinting off the sharp blade as it arched through the pale blue sky.

Her heart stopped this time for a long moment.

Then one beat. Two. Three.

She was only a few yards away, though still too far to aim accurately, and she only had one shot.

The man whose life thread glistened around him continued to rummage through a merchant’s goods, poking and prodding at the items. Blissfully unaware his life was in danger. Danger only she could prevent—and was doomed to fail.

She stumbled to a halt with a cry caught in her throat. Even if she loosed her power, it wouldn’t stop the reaping in time. Nivian aimed, the power in her hands burning with her anger and frustration. She drew back her arm, mirroring the Guardian’s movements.

The blade of the scythe inched closer to the life thread.

She was a failure and Yeva would have her head.

Nivian blinked, not believing what she saw. Then blinked again.

The scythe had stopped a hair’s breadth from slicing the man’s life force. She exhaled, nearly gasping for breath as time returned to normal.

A pale hand clamped down around the obsidian shaft of the scythe, holding it back.

Nivian dropped her arm, the white power fizzling out from between her finger tips.

Her gaze trailed up the arm to the body, and up into the face of the Dark Guardian, meeting the endless depths of midnight eyes, as dark as coal and as endless as the night sky.

Never once in her entire existence had she ever felt mortal. Not until that moment when she was held captive by his stare. Mortality wrapped itself around her like the cool scales of a snake squeezing the life from its prey.

She swallowed hard. Her muscles refused to obey her mind’s commands to move, to run, to attack. Anything.

Neither of them moved for what felt like an eternity as he starred down at her. A pained expression flashed across his sharp features, settling in those infinite pools of night.

His fingers tightened around the scythe as he lifted his other hand and reached out toward her in a gesture she couldn’t decipher. Nivian could only watch his movements, slow and steady.

He could attack her if he wanted as she stood, struck dumb by his actions. There was something familiar in his expression. Nivian found herself drawn to his mouth. A mouth she could have sworn she’d seen before, on another day, smiling before she’d lost him to the sea of people. But no, she had to be mistaken.

In mid-motion, he paused. His eyes widened a fraction. It was such an infinitesimal twitch, and something only a Watcher or another Dark Guardian would be able to detect. He curled his fingers back into his palm.

What did he want with her? She could feel a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face, down her neck, to the collar of her fitted tunic.

Nivian sucked in a sharp breath and before she could part her lips to speak, both of the Guardians were gone, the din of the crowd returning to her ears.