Aria's POV
I could feel someone breathing down my neck. The obnoxious sound coupled with someone invading my personal space made me anxious. I hated it so much.
I turned to give him a piece of my mind but halted as I came face to face with a tall imposing figure.
They was something off about him. It wasn't about how he looked, he was quite handsome, broad shoulders, brown eyes and shaggy dirty blond hair.
Something about him seemed wrong and disturbing. It was probably his eyes. There was this look he had in his eyes that I couldn't place.
Every fiber of my being screamed that this man wasn't to be trusted.
"Who are you?" I finally managed to get out after staring at him for a few minutes.
"My name is Jax" he said flashing a smile.
"I'm to be your guard until Ryker returns" he continued.
"Do you by any chance know when he'll back" I asked hopefully.
"I have no idea, My Lady" He replied stoically.
My heart dropped at that piece of information.
So, I simply nodded in reply and continued on my way to the archives. They was no use of arguing, after all I was still a prisoner.
I could hear him trailing after me, his footsteps echoing in the quiet hallway.
I hastened my steps trying to avoid being in his presence for longer than it was necessary.
The hallway was more quiet than usual, not that it was ever busy to begin with.
My room was located in the west wing of the castle. They were hardly any people save for me living in this part as it was quite old and abandoned before I started living here.
They were usually a few maids cleaning and dusting but even they seemed to be absent today.
I swallowed the unease I felt, it was probably just me overthinking so I walked faster, trying to get to a more populated part of the castle.
I heaved a sigh of relief when I sighted the Archives' door. I've never been more happy to see it's towering doors and the two guards standing motionlessly in front of it.
As I entered the archives, Jax tried following before being stopped by one of the guards, his protests were cut off as the door was shut in his face silencing any further protests from him.
I schooled my features, putting on a smile before walking to the round table where Lyra and Namarie sat, surrounded by heaps of books and dusty looking scrolls.
They both were in a heated conversation which died down as I approached.
I greeted them with a little wave and smile which they returned.
I had a feeling that I had interrupted an important conversation which was further solidified as both of them seemed to be lost in thought.
It was quite surprising that neither of them was preoccupied with one of the never ending books or scrolls littering the table. By now they would've both have their nose buried in one of them.
Instead they had this faraway look in their eyes.
I snapped my fingers, which finally seemed to snap them out of whatever daze they had wandered into.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No, why would you think that" Lyra replied with a nervous laugh.
"Because both of you are acting weird right now" I said glancing at both of them.
"Its nothing. It's just that we received some news from Kael today," Lyra said, her voice low.
"Kael has discovered a scroll in an abandoned temple that might lead to the location of the crystal we've been searching for."
My heart skipped a beat as I heard the news. I felt a surge of excitement and anticipation at the news.
"This is great news guys, why don't you seem happy?" I wasn't aware when question slipped out of my mouth.
Lyra's expression fell at that, while Namarie's remained blank.
They both stayed silent which only seemed to make me more curious.
Something was wrong. They were keeping something from me.
"It's nothing Aria, of course we're happy, we're just in shock." Namarie finally said with a small smile playing at her lips.
"We have been searching for years so it's a bit shocking that were so close to finding it."
"I guess a part of me has always doubted that it ever existed, so to realize that all those years weren't for nothing is quite a lot to digest." Lyra said making me turn to her.
"Me too," Namarie said nodding in agreement.
"I'm sorry, my question was very insensitive" I said apologetically, my eyes locked on them.
"No need to apologize, it was a valid question" Lyra said with a reassuring smile.
"For all it's worth, I would've asked the same" Namarie said with a small laugh, diffusing the lingering tension in the room.
As much as I wanted to believe them both, something was telling me that they weren't being completely honest with me. I decided to ignore it for now, pushing it to the back of my mind.
"Where is the scroll now?" I asked in a bid to change the subject.
Namarie smiled, clearly pleased to be the one to share the news with me. "From what Kael has told me, the scroll is a cryptic map that appears to point to the location of the last crystal that'll complete the elder constellation," she said.
"It has been retrieved by Ryker, who should be back in a few days"
"And this time Kael is convinced that it's the real deal."