Read Online Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) by Kristen Pham - Free Book Online

that the Fractus’s ways were misguided.”
    “She was right,” Valerie
couldn’t help saying.
    Gideon’s face twisted before he
resumed his usual calm. “How did he repay her? He came to her Guild and
attacked her while she trained alone one morning. I saw them battling, and
together we sent him off. But he wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d show up at her
home, when she walked the streets of Silva. Adelita swore that he wasn’t really
using his full power when he attacked, that he wouldn’t hurt her. He was
fighting within himself and projecting his doubts onto her.”
    Chrome flashed an image in
Valerie’s mind of Adelita lying on a dusty piece of ground. Oberon loomed over
her, lightning sparking from his clenched fists. But in this memory, Adelita
said something, angry, and he dropped his hands. He leaned forward and helped her
to her feet, and their eyes met. Even through the haze of Chrome’s memory, the intense
connection between her parents was unmistakable.
    “I’ll never understand how he
convinced her to trust him,” Gideon said, and Valerie heard pain in his voice.
She examined her mentor closely, wondering for the first time how close Gideon
and her mother had been.
    “She saw something good in him.
It’s there, I swear to you. I’ve seen it,” Valerie said.
    “That isn’t all,” Gideon said,
and his eyes blazed again. “A year after they were together, the Fractus
ordered Oberon to create a great storm over the woods. They didn’t say why, but
he must have known it was to hurt someone. Even though he had forsworn his
alliance to the Fractus for Adelita, when they threatened her life, he gave in
and did what they asked.”
    Valerie couldn’t hide her
confusion. “Storms happen all the time. What’s the big deal?”
    Gideon finally turned to her.
“Ask your friend Dulcea how dangerous a storm created by as powerful a Conjuror
as Oberon can be. Her parents died that day, killed by his magic as surely as
if it had been by his own hand. Do you think your mother thanked him for his
protection at the expense of innocent lives?”
    Valerie’s mind was moving
through sludge, unable to process Gideon’s words. “How could she have ever
forgiven him?”
    Gideon turned away without
speaking, but Chrome sent her a final image of Oberon on his knees, blind and
full of repentance. She didn’t hear the words that were pouring out of him, but
his eyes reflected the depth of his regret as he pounded the ground with his
fists. Something he said made her mother’s face soften.
    In spite of seeing her father’s
remorse, she couldn’t forgive him as her mother had. Instead she felt betrayed,
as if Oberon had tricked her into believing in someone who didn’t exist.
     

Chapter 7
    The rest of Valerie, Gideon, and
Chrome’s trip to the edge of the woods was quiet. Kanti and Cyrus were waiting
at the Lake of Knowledge with matching smiles, excited about their latest
adventure. But the foundation beneath Valerie’s feet had shifted, and she
couldn’t hide it from her friends.
    “What is it?” Kanti asked when
she saw her face.
    Valerie shook her head. “Later.”
    Cyrus kissed her cheek and held
her hand. Then he turned to Gideon. “How is it that you know how to find the
People of the Woods, anyway?”
    “When I was a boy, a clan living
in the south woods of Arden adopted me,” Gideon said.
    Valerie realized how little she
knew of her mentor, but her usual curiosity was deadened by Gideon’s
revelations about her father. She knew she had to shake the news off, at least
for now, so that she could focus on winning over Elden and his people.
    In his usual attempt to lighten
the mood, Cyrus changed the subject. “What do we do? Is there a secret passage
or a ritual? A charm, maybe?”
    Gideon relaxed under the
influence of Cyrus’s enthusiasm. “Nothing so grand, I’m afraid. We climb.”
    “Climb what?” Cyrus persisted.
    “You’ll see,” Gideon said, and a
smile twitched at the corner