Messenger (Guardian Trilogy Prequel 1) Read Online Free

attention to himself, he again took a place at the border of the clearing, although this time he did it alone.
    It didn’t matter. He had the entire training grounds murmuring as he settled back against a tree.
    Jacob clapped his hands to gain our interest. “Over here,” he called out. “The training is over here. With me. Focus on me.”
    When the training resumed, Eran watched us from afar, arms crossed, an unsympathetic expression planted on his attentive face. Yet his distance and reserved demeanor did nothing to lessen his impact.
    His actions were mesmeric, the simplest shift to his posture, the turn of his head, the sound of what seemed to be a restrained chuckle, led the messengers to the point where they were concentrating more on him than on Daniel or Jacob. The training became punctuated with loud hand claps by Jacob or a hasty transition from one topic to another by Daniel. This helped, but Eran’s presence was unquestionably demanding, and pulling us back to our training proved to be a unique challenge.
    At times, as Eran observed us, a beguiling sideways grin would form across his lips and his eyes took on a mischievous gleam, a smirk which surfaced when one of us got the upper hand or outperformed another.
    He was rooting us on, silently, his confident virility standing passively by as we learned what he already knew.
    But why? Why had he come? Why had he returned? What was his purpose here? These were the questions others were whispering, but my bewilderment was slightly different. This was because I caught him staring at me without reason, either as I finished practicing a technique or stood silently by and listened to our trainers. Eran’s eyes would catch mine and while I would vacillate on whether to look away, he held his gaze. And therefore, so did I. The excitement that rose in me during those times was enough to keep me transfixed on him until Jacob snapped his fingers at me.
    This was the pattern that began to form. We would align for practice, Eran would arrive and study us throughout, Daniel and Jacob would fail in their attempts to regain our attention on them.
    This lasted seven sessions.
    Then Daniel approached Eran, who again fixed his eyes on me. This time, however, they took on a melancholic tone. They didn’t waver as Daniel approached him, as if Eran already knew the topic about to be discussed and what the outcome would be, and that sad understanding was being released through his gaze.
    In an apparently rehearsed speech, Daniel began to explain something that took a great amount of courage, judging by the way he stood and the flapping of his arms throughout his explanation. Eran nodded a few times as Daniel spoke to him, but he didn’t deviate from his focus on me until Daniel appeared to end his speech. Eran’s beguiling lips shifted then into that now-familiar smirk. He nodded once, firmly, and slapped Daniel amiably on the shoulder. He then spoke a single declarative word.
    ”Understood.”
    At that, his appendages appeared behind him and, thrusting once downward, lifted him into the sky.
    “What did you say to him?” Hermina asked, for the rest of us.
    “That his attendance was a distraction.”
    “So, he’s not coming back?” asked another woman, one who preferred the body of an eighty-year-old. She tucked back a strand of white hair as she waited for an answer.
    It was evident by the sound of her voice that this aged depiction of her didn’t diminish her fondness for Eran in the least.
    In fact, no one’s affection had waned. They were bees and he was the honeycomb.
    “Not while we are training,” Daniel replied. “So if your intent is to see Eran again, we’d better get back to it.”
    Jacob clapped his hands, yet again, and began to gather us into a circle. The messengers gave a fleeting glance where Eran had gone, but he had disappeared now. My gaze lasted a little longer, a single notion running through my head.
    He’d done something that didn’t make