Page 100 of The Mentor
Christina was crying and her many tears made me cry too. Even so, I still pulledout the documents and placed them in front of him. “I cleared it with Isobel,” I said quickly and wiped tears from my cheeks. “If you sign here, you officially become Raven’s father and mother.”
Boulder’s hands were shaking when he reached for the pen I held out to him and he was clearly at a loss for words.
“I have to warn you, though, both Raven’s mother and Isobel have made a lot of conditions.”
When he lifted his eyes to look at me, I saw that they were full of tears too.
“Raven will keep her citizenship of the Motherlands in case she decides to return when she’s older, and you cannot deny her the privilege of education or the chance to pursue a career. Raven is a Motlander and can’t be part of the traditional tournaments here in the Northlands, unless she chooses to. Nor can she be denied the right to earn and keep her own money,” I emphasized. “The same goes for any female descendants she might have,” I added and held out an extra document. “Isobel insisted that Lord Khan also signs off on the conditions.”
Boulder nodded and quickly signed the papers, before pushing them across the table to Christina.
She was crying so hard that tears dropped on the papers. “I’m sorry.” She sniffled. “I just can’t believe that this is really happening.”
Boulder positioned himself on his knees next to Christina, impatiently waiting for her to write the last signature, before he pulled her into a fierce hug.
“Look.” He held out his hands, which were visibly shaking. “Everything inside of me is vibrating with euphoria right now.”
They hugged and kissed again, and the moment between them was so intimate that I almost felt like I should look away. On an intellectual level, it was hard for me to understand how these two could be so close when they were fundamentally so different. I had been Christina’s best friend for years, but seeing them together like this, I knew I no longer held that role in her life. The two of them were a team now. A very happy team.
My thoughts went to Archer. This was what he was offering me: an unbreakable bond of love, trust, and support formalized by a marriage contract. When he said he wanted more, I hadn’t really understood the significance of what he meant by that. But seeing Boulder and Christina kneeling together on the floor, clinging to each other with tears of joy, was an eye-opener.
I had been focusing on all the things I would have to give up, and all the ways binding myself to Archer would limit me. But the deep longing inside of me, that came from seeing the love between the two people in front of me, made me want to run to Archer.
I needed to see him, right now, or the pain in my stomach would never go away. Images of us together, played in my mind’s eye, and it was accompanied by a soundtrack of strong emotions that I had suppressed.
How could I have rejected him again and again when it was so obvious that I loved him?
I was still sitting on the sofa, lost in my own thoughts and feeling ashamed for having been so blind, when Christina and Boulder decided it was time to include me in all the hugging.
“When can we tell Raven?”
“As soon as you have Lord Khan’s signature. The adoption cannot go through unless he agrees to the terms.”
Boulder didn’t waste any time; he dropped me off at the school on his way to find Lord Khan and make him sign the papers.
I was enormously happy for him and Christina, but something big was happening in my own life, and with a huge smile I greeted all the children that came out to welcome me back.
“My God, you are positively glowing,” Finn said and lifted me from the ground in a big bear hug. “We should let you have a day alone in the Motherlands more often.”
“Where is Archer?” I asked while my eyes searched for him.
“He left this morning,” Marco said, and disappointment wiped away my smile. How typical of Archer to choose today of all days to leave the school for a few hours.
“Did he say when he will be back?”
“Probably Saturday or Sunday,” Finn said quickly. “But don’t worry, I’m here to entertain you and make sure that you won’t miss him one bit.”
“Where did he go?” I asked with a frown.
Finn shrugged. “Not sure, he just said he would be back in a few days.”
“But didn’t you ask him where he was going?”
Finn shook a finger. “Kya, my sweet papaya, in our country it’s rude to ask too many questions.”
My heart was pounding with an uneasy suspicion that something wasn’t right. “That’s too bad, because I have some news that I want to share with Archer. I’ll just have to call him up.”
“You do that, but don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t pick up.”
