136 Overbearing

RETH

Jak wasn't okay. Jak was nowhere to be found—and Jak was not an Anima to abandon his post. One of their best trackers scented equine blood in the dirt only feet from the trail, and closer to the city than the cave, though there was no sign of Jak, a body, or how he had been removed from the spot, alive or dead.

Reth almost crawled out of his skin when he found out that Elia had walked more than halfway from the Tree City, unattended, and after a likely assault occurred just feet from her. He brought the guards in and roared at them until Behryn arrived to calm him down.

Between them they developed a new guard routine for Elia. She would no longer be considered safe when in the city. There would be at least one guard following her at all times, and multiple when outside the city itself.