Free Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) by Kristen Pham Page A

safe, okay? Don’t let them
throw you over the edge or anything,” Cyrus said, only half joking.
    The trip back to Arden was much
quicker than the journey to Arbor Aurum. By climbing down the golden ladder at
the right spot, they floated through the air and landed on the edge of the
forest near Silva.
    When Valerie landed lightly on
her feet, she noticed that her brother was waiting for them. The first thing he
did was kiss Kanti like they’d been separated for weeks instead of a day.
    Valerie looked at Cyrus, ready
to roll her eyes, but she saw that he was watching them with a slight smile, as
if he wished that they had that kind of relationship.
    A little giggle surprised
Valerie. She whipped around to find the source and saw Emin, Cerise’s son.
    “Where did you come from,
buddy?” she asked, kneeling in the soft dirt next to him.
    “I followed you!” His eyes
sparkled with delight, and Valerie couldn’t help smiling back.
    “A hitchhiker,” Cyrus said,
clearly enjoying Emin’s mischief.
    “I was visiting the city with my
mom and I saw you. I knew you’d bring me on your adventures!” Emin said with
the confidence only a six-year-old can possess.
    “Your family might worry about
you,” Valerie said.
    Emin stuck out his bottom lip.
“They never let me do anything fun. I decided for myself to come with you, and
you can’t stop me.”
    Cyrus laughed, and Valerie
suspected that Emin reminded him of himself when he was younger.
    “What are we going to do with
you?” Kanti chimed in, having successfully peeled herself off of Henry.
“Gideon’s still in Arbor Aurum, and I doubt we can find that tree to take us
back there without him.”
    “Azra will know how to get him
home safely,” Henry said. “I had a message from her asking us to visit the Capitol
as soon as you returned, so I was going to bring you to her now anyway. Cyrus
and Kanti, too.”
    Valerie nodded and turned to Emin.
“Would you like to see the Capitol building? The most important Grand Masters
in Arden all work there.”
    Emin’s eyes grew round. “The big
building with the gold roof?”
    “That’s the one,” Cyrus said.
    “Yes! I want to meet the Grand
Master of the Knights and see inside!” Emin was practically dancing with glee.
    “It’s a long walk back, do you
want a ride?” Valerie asked him. When he nodded, she swung him up so that he
was sitting on her shoulders. “Now you have the best view of us all. Keep a
lookout for anything dangerous. You can be our guard.”
    Emin let out a little squeal of joy,
and his weight on her shoulders grounded Valerie. She missed being around little
ones. They were so much more fun than grown-ups. Thinking about that reminded her
of little Ming, another child who Darling had saved back on Earth, and she
resolved to visit her as soon as she had a chance.
    It wasn’t too far of a walk back
to The Horseshoe. When Emin saw the grounds, he insisted on jumping down from
Valerie’s shoulders and racing to the Capitol building himself.
    Valerie chased after him, and
they burst through the front doors, laughing. Kanti, Cyrus, and Henry joined
them, and they all became quiet in the hush of the grand building.
    When they reached Azra’s office,
Valerie gently knocked on the door and it swung open at her touch.
    Azra stood in the little patch
of grass in the corner of her office with Summer, an ancient centaur Valerie
had met who helped them fight the Fractus at the Black Castle.
    The patch of grass was a gift to
Azra from her husband, Odysseus. By stepping inside it, she could see a memory
of him that was so accurate it was almost as if he were alive.
    “Should we wait for them to step
off?” Henry whispered.
    Valerie shook her head. Kanti
showed Emin the magical maps on the walls of the office to distract him before
joining the rest of the group on the grass with Azra and Summer. Azra noticed
them first, and she smiled with wistful relief. Valerie was again struck by her
radiant bearing, in