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

Chapter 33

Drained of hope, and light, and love, Valerie was oddly peaceful lying with her head against her father's chest. She could shut her eyes and sleep, and with a little luck, Reaper would make sure she never awoke. But she didn't.

Instead, she forced herself to her feet, refusing to look at her father again. She wanted her last memory of him to be of his smile as he'd said her name and called her Daughter for the last time.

She did pause before Reaper's unconscious body after she'd picked Pathos up off the ground. She would dearly love to grant him his wish right then and end his life. For a long time, she stood with her blade pressed against his throat, but finally she sheathed Pathos and turned away.

Her legs were wooden as she walked out of the castle, and the world looked surreal. Light and dark seemed to contrast each other more than usual, and the few bright colors, like the smear of Oberon's blood on her arm, were more brilliant than normal. When she opened the huge doors at the front of the castle and light speared the shadows, she had to squint her eyes to see.

She'd thought there would be a token group of Fractus there to defend the castle and its master, but it was deserted. A corner of her brain registered that she hadn't seen Venu in the battle, but if he was guarding the castle, then he'd obviously decided to hide when his master collapsed.

She remembered her last battle in front of the Black Castle, and it seemed like a dream. Back then, though she'd doubted herself, she'd had hope. Her father lived, and she would find him. Her days of being an orphan were over.

Wiping the last of her tears from her cheeks, Valerie trudged toward the Oasis, which was a little part of Dunsinane that was protected from the Fractus by lingering magic from an ancient war.

Time was irrelevant to her, though a burning sensation in her throat made her idly wonder if she was thirsty. When she reached the Oasis and dropped to her knees by the little lake there, she began frantically scooping water into her mouth, hardly aware of what she was doing. It was as if her body was acting on its own to keep her alive while her mind struggled to function.

After she drank, she lay on the bank, water soaking her clothes. Valerie reached out for Henry, so that he would know she was alive, before she let her mind slip into oblivion. His relief registered before her body shut down from exhaustion.

Someone was gently shaking Valerie awake, and she squinted into the light that was burning down on her. She'd had a dreamless sleep, but the knowledge of what had happened never left her. Waking up only meant that now she'd have to deal with other people, too.

"You don't have to say anything," Henry said. "I was with you the whole time, even though you didn't know it. I tried to help."

Her vision cleared, and she could make out the details of his face. His eyes were so sad, and she saw little creases around them. Was it possible for a seventeen-year-old to already have wrinkles? It reminded her of how he'd had gray in his hair until the Glamour Guild had turned it all black for him. Without realizing it, she touched the gray streak in her own hair.

"Then you know about Dad," Valerie said, her voice scratchy.

The first dagger of pain made its way through her haze of numbness. Henry had lost two fathers to this war with the Fractus. Even if he'd never acknowledged Oberon as his father, the two had become closer. Valerie suspected that Henry was growing to love him, too.

"It's just the two of us, now," he said, and his voice cracked.

Valerie didn't know how it happened, but the rest of her numbness fell away all at once at his words, and she cried in her brother's arms, sobs racking her entire body.