Guardians of the Boundary (Book 3 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 30

A few days later, the seed still hadn't changed. Valerie couldn't manage to get more than two hours of sleep in a row before waking up to check on it. Oberon offered to keep an eye on it for her, but she couldn't let it out of her sight.

Henry was rarely home, stopping by for clothes and a shower before leaving again. Valerie knew he spent some of his time with Kanti, but he also spent hours by himself, wandering the woods and coming back dirty and tired. She wondered if the constant movement gave him any peace.

Valerie filled her mornings training with Gideon and Oberon, and her afternoons among the guilds, talking to Conjurors who were willing to support her.

After a day spent talking to Leo and Cyrus's friends in the Weapons Guild, Valerie came home as the light from the day was beginning to fade. As she approached her house, an excitement rose in her belly that had nothing to do with her plans. It was an unsettling, but distinctly good sensation, like the reverse of her sixth sense for danger.

Her excitement grew when she saw that someone was sitting on the front steps of her house, next to Oberon. She walked faster, and then began to run. The person on the steps stood up, and Valerie realized who it was. Thai was on the Globe.

He wore the biggest smile she'd ever seen on his face, and in a flash, she found herself in a crushing hug, her face buried in his chest. Oberon discreetly went inside the house, and they were alone.

Valerie remembered all the reasons why she shouldn't be holding Thai as if her life depended on it. She stepped back and tried to stomp out the joy that lit her up.

"You're really here," she said, embarrassed by how breathless she sounded.

"Newly arrived," Thai said. "Azra herself met me on this side and brought me to your house. I met her lots of times on Earth, but to see her in person... It doesn't compare."

"How is your family taking the news?" Valerie asked, forcing herself to sound more businesslike.

"They always knew that it was what I really wanted, so they're not surprised. And I'll visit them every chance I get," Thai said.

Valerie's confusion must have shown on her face.

"I know, you can't understand why they would think that, considering I told you I wanted to stay on Earth and go to college and everything," Thai said. "But all that was a lie, including the part about not wanting to be with you."

Valerie's vision narrowed to a point, and she forgot to breathe. Every cold glance, every cruel word Thai had spoken wasn't for real. He hadn't betrayed her. Her world seemed to tilt on its axis, righting itself. The happiness and pure relief that coursed through her was so intense that it was positively dizzying.

She was clutching the side of her house for support, so she forced herself to sit down. Thai followed, sitting two inches too close for friendship.

"A lie," Valerie repeated, the weight of the words settling in her heart.

"Chern told me that he received a prophecy that if I came to the Globe, you would die," Thai said. "I didn't find out that he was Reaper until a few weeks ago, and I suspected that his prophecy was invented to keep me off the Globe. I talked to your friend Sibyl about it, and she told me that no such prophecy exists. All of the prophecies given are magically recorded, so there can be no mistake, or else I wouldn't be here now."

Thai gripped Valerie's hand. "Everything I did after I heard that prophecy was for you, I swear it. I knew that even if you agreed that I shouldn't come to the Globe, you would either want to come back to Earth or you would stay loyal to me even though we couldn't be together. I wanted you to have a full life on the Globe without me, so I convinced you that I'd moved on. But I hadn't. I couldn't."