Knights of Light (Book 2 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 2

Several hours later, Valerie entered Thai's tent and collapsed on the floor next to him. Henry had finally relaxed enough to fall asleep, and Kanti was still there, watching over him. Valerie and Thai stared up through the open flap on the top of his tent at the tiny patch of stars that had become so familiar to them over the past few months in the hours they had spent talking every night.

"Henry told me everything that happened to him, but I didn't understand how messed up he is from it until tonight," she confided to Thai.

"He's getting stronger. I can see a difference in him every week."

"I hope this doesn't set him back. It seemed like he was finally starting to heal."

"My biggest worry has always been his father," Thai said. "From what Henry's said, he seems really fragile, and I worry that he might get depressed again without Henry to take care of him. And if something happened to him, Henry would never forgive himself."

She shuddered. "I don't think he would recover if he lost his dad after everything that's happened. He blames himself for everything the Fractus put his dad through. He says it never would have happened if they hadn't been after him to begin with."

"What did the Fractus do?"

"Henry says they convinced his dad that he killed his wife. Sanguina pretended to be her ghost, blaming him for what happened. He was so broken by his grief and guilt that he believed it."

"He's in a safe place now, away from us. We have to make sure that the Fractus can never find him again. It will be easier once Henry is on the Globe and can visit him all the time in person. I'm sure learning all this stuff about magic is pretty crazy for him."

"It's still nuts to me, and I've been living with it for half a year," Valerie said, only half kidding.

Their eyes met and they both smiled. The tension finally drained out of her. Together, she and Thai would plan their next move, and it would all be okay. He was sitting close enough that a piece of her long, dark hair rested on his arm. He picked it up and fiddled with the end, clearly trying to decide whether he should say something.

Finally, he sighed. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you needed me the most."

"We were never in any real danger."

"This time, true. But next time...I just wish you could count on me."

She sat up. "I do count on you. More than you know. And Tan's getting more mature. He can help in a crisis, too," she said, though she wasn't certain if that was really true.

"He is getting stronger. I think that we're going to separate sooner than Midnight told me we would."

"But that's a good thing, right?" Valerie asked.

"It will be nice to have my body back. But he doesn't seem ready to be on his own yet."

"Tan's reaction to Venu today was kinda weird. He seemed so angry—way more than you are."

"I know. It all started when Venu touched him with his poison at the falls. Something's wrong, but I have no idea how to fix it, or if I even can," Thai said, his face tense with worry.

"Well, he shares your genes, so something tells me that he'll work through what's bothering him and come out of this stronger for it."

"I hope you're right."

"I'm always right," Valerie joked. Thai smacked her legs with a pillow and she laughed. But then he turned serious.

"So what's next? Think we should run?"