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“It’s not that I didn’t want to go after him.”
“No. You trust him to do what he said he would do and come back. That shows restraint. It shows growth.”
“You sound like a self-help book.”
“Ugh,” Gullie shuddered. “When didIgrow up? I miss the old days. The adventure, the action, narrowly escaping death at every turn!”
“Aren’t you happy?”
“Oh, deliriously so, trust me. It’s just been a long year of sitting on my hands, that’s all.”
“Right… I forget it’s been that long over here. It’s only been a week or two for me.”
Gullie shook her head. “That’s not a good sign, either.”
“What isn’t a good sign?”
“The time difference. It means the worlds are drifting further apart.”
I frowned. “They are?”
“There’s usually a push and pull. Sometimes Earth and Arcadia are close, and when they’re close, the time differential comes closer to zero. Other times, when the worlds are further apart, the time differential grows. Days there become weeks here. It looks like the difference has grown to days becoming months. That’s never happened, as far as I know.”
“But… it’ll go back to how it was, right? You said there’s a push and pull, like a tide.”
“I really can’t answer that.”
“And if the worlds keep drifting?”
“You ever pulled too hard on a rubber band? I don’t want to say it’ll get to that point because I don’t know, but it’s possible that the connection will break entirely.”
“Gullie, my grandmothers are here. Arcadia isnotsafe for humans, even witches. They can’t stay here forever.”
Gullie gave me grave eyes. “I know.”
I sat down on Valerian’s bed, exhaling deeply. “Great. Something else to worry about.”
“We just need to figure out how to beat Malys, that’s all. If we can put things back to the way they were, then your grandparents can go home again, and we can all forget about this nightmare.”
“This suddenly got really depressing.”
“Arcadia is a rollercoaster of ups and downs these days. Welcome back, I guess.”
We spent a little while in silence after that. I had a lot to think about, a lot to lament and scold myself for. I kept thinking about the day Valerian and I met. I was with my mother, and we were greeting Royal Selection contestants as they headed for their trial. I remembered Lord Cyr, and how outwardly flamboyant he had been. Everybody loved him.
Everybody except me.
Valerian had been the last contestant to come through the doors. Unlike the others, helookedlike he didn’t have any money to his name, and even though to most other people that would’ve been a turn off, for me, it was refreshing. Until he came up to my mother and I and introduced himself, I hadn’t really even known who he was.
He was the one who was winning all of his trials, but that didn’t matter when it came to the Selection. What mattered more was flair, personality, charisma. If a Fae had all three of those thingsandthey were winning their trials, they were most certainly the ones who could take the whole thing home.
Valerian flew under the radar, until I saw him, until I met him.
Thinking about it now, I knew then that there was something between us. I had felt it, even if I didn’t want to admit it. Maybe if I had allowed things to run their course, trusted my parents… maybe things would’ve been different. Maybe I would’ve ended up with Lord Cyr, but then again, maybe not?
Gods.
I hadn’t wanted toend upwith anyone back then. I didn’t care for a relationship, or for love. Those things weren’t as important as my need to be free, and unbound. Now look at me. Valerian had been gone for barely a few hours, and all I could do was wrap myself up in his scent and talk about him.
