The Last Guardian

By Isabo Kelly

Charged with guarding a priceless relic, Neeka must escape a nightmare creature so horrifying the gods tremble before it. Her only hope of survival is the powerful mage who trained her. But Gehan’s help will come at a price.

When Gehan sees Neeka stumbling toward him from the dark woods surrounding his isolated home, he assumes she’s a dream, a fantasy born of his obsession with her—until she collapses in his arms and begs for his help. To end his loneliness and keep her with him, he’s willing to sacrifice anything, even his soul.

Winner of the 2004 Zircon Speculative Romance Award, The Last Guardian brings readers of fantasy romance a dark tale of magic and wonder.

Author’s Note: This story was originally published in Sum3: The 2006 Zircon Anthology of Speculative Romance, edited by Jody Wallace

• Language: English
• Publisher: T&D Publishing
• Release date: Aug 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311556271

Book preview

THE LAST GUARDIAN

Copyright © 2015 by Katrina Tipton

Published by T&D Publishing

Cover by SelfPubBookCovers.com/LadyDeath

The Last Guardian first appeared in:

Sum3: The 2006 Zircon Anthology of Speculative Romance, edited by Jody Wallace

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

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Table of Contents

Copyright

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Books by Isabo Kelly

About the Author

THE LAST GUARDIAN

Isabo Kelly

Chapter One

Run! The thought screamed through her head. Neeka picked herself off the ground one more time, stumbled a few steps in the darkness then ran as fast as her rubbery limbs would allow. Her chest burned, her throat ached. Her body stung with scrapes and cuts. Through the pain, she could feel blood trickling down her shin from the gash on her knee.

But she didn’t stop running.

The Soul Eater had finally come.

Inside, she shrieked in protest. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be real. The Soul Eater was a myth told around campfires to scare children, to remind them all what they guarded and why. But no one believed in the nightmarish creature any more. It had become an allegory, a teaching tool.

It wasn’t supposed to be real, damn it!

She was the last of the guardians. She couldn’t think about her lost comrades, she couldn’t allow the grief in yet. But the horror of it lurked beneath her terror.

The Soul Eater had grown stronger, more powerful, while they had forgotten some of the old magics. Generations ago, they could have fought the monster. But now…

Now it was too much for the guardians. Especially one