This Blood that Bonds Us (This Blood that Binds Us #4)

47. Forty-Seven

Forty-Seven

Kimberly

“You’re not nervous at all?” Aaron sat next to me cross-legged on the floor.

The memory of what happened a month prior was burned into my mind. Aaron strewn across a marble floor without life in his features. However, when I looked at Aaron smiling, confident, and carefree, I realized I, too, was starting to believe we could win.

We couldn’t trust everything at face value. We were tapping into an unknown source of power, and there wasn’t one way to interpret anything.

I needed to have an open mind.

I needed to be brave.

“It’s going to be okay,” I finally replied.

Dom sat in an ottoman next to me. “Everything is ready.”

“You’re sure?” Aaron said, rubbing my knee.

“Positive. We still need something if we’re going to win.”

I looked next to me, wishing Presley were on my other side, but we all agreed since we needed to know less about the plan, it was better he didn’t come or know more about the rituals. Probably Aaron too, but there’s no way he would let me go alone, and I didn’t want to. I grabbed Aaron’s hand and squeezed it for comfort.

“Have you tried talking directly to Cecily?” Anzola rested on the windowsill. “During that time, there was a frenzy among nobles. Everyone wanted to obtain power and influence, and they were willing to sacrifice anything to get it. Even their own daughters. Many members of the council believe that once a queen is created in the body of a human, their soul is sent to hell. But I believe they’re trapped and their souls stay within the body. The dagger you’re holding has the blood of Cecily embedded in its handle. It’s what created Her.”

“This stuff is so weird,” Felix grumbled.

“Hush.” Halina nudged him.

Felix was right. We’d grown accustomed to the strangeness of things that involved vampires, but this stuff was different. Using a physical object to tap into “power from the sky,” as Presley would say, was new territory for my family and theirs.

“I’ll give it a shot.” I ran my finger along the handle.

“We’re ready.” Kilian nodded from his desk chair. “Try to stay as long as you can.”

I nodded and reached for the cool blade of the dagger, pricking my finger and smearing my blood on the blade.

This time, there was barely any pause.

When I blinked again, I was on my own in a pure white room that went on forever in all directions. There was no warmth. No cold. No worry or pain. It was infinitely neutral.

I waited, unsure how fast time was passing in that space. It was dreamlike, but I could still recall things. Like when Aaron mentioned he felt forced into the back of his own mind. Maybe that place was my own mind.

“Cecily. I need to speak with Cecily,” I demanded.

When I turned around, I stood face-to-face with a mirror. It went on for miles on either side. As I went to touch the glass, I gasped. Behind the shining glass was the queen.

I only knew from Aaron’s vague description. Long white hair and ghastly pale skin draped in layers of white satin fabric. Only Her eyes weren’t white, hazy, or even gray. They were bright green.

I knew who was in front of me with no hesitation, like the fact had been whispered in my ear and I was simply repeating it.

“Cecily.”

She turned toward me with a pale finger pressed to her lips to silence me.

“She’s close.” Cecily’s voice was thick with an Irish accent. “Can you see me?”

She looked through the mirror as if she were staring through me.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Who am I speaking to?”

“Kimberly.”

“Kimberly Burns. Anything She knows, I do. You must be here about the Calem boys. Is that right?”

“I . . . Wait, if I tell you, will She know too?”

“No. This isn’t real. It’s just a piece of me you’re speaking to.”

“Where is this place?”

“I call it the In-Between. She holds a piece of my soul and splits me in whichever way She wishes. A part of me is here forever. How are you speaking with me?”

“I have one of the last daggers.”

“You’re with a Kilian. Listen to me, you must use the dagger. It is vitally important, and they know Kilian has it. They know you will come, but you can’t let it stop you. You must make sure you all go.”

“Tell me what we need to do. Help us. Show me the future. Show me the possibilities you can see.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. You’re not a vessel.”

“But the dagger showed me visions before.”

“The Divine only showed you brief visions because It wanted to.”

“Then tell me, how do I save Aaron and his brothers? Tell me how to win.”

“I can’t. All of the threads run together. It’s nearly impossible to follow one all the way down to a desired outcome. And I cannot tell you too much or it won’t come to pass.”

Of course not.

“What can you tell me?”

“First. You must speak the truth. What do you want most? Do you want to save him, or do you want them all to be free? I need to know because it determines what I tell you next.”

I hesitated. Could I not have both? It should have worried me, but I still felt nothing there. I knew my answer regardless.

“I want them to be free. I want Her to not have access to them anymore.”

She smiled. “You don’t usually make it this far . . . In most futures I saw, you died before you were able to make it to the island. This is a good sign. You’re in Her blind spot. I do not know what awaits you, but I will warn you . . . you likely won’t make it out alive.”

I paused for a moment, feeling out the weight of that sentence.

“But it saves them, all of them?”

“We can only see what pertains to The Family. Futures that affect us only. I see all of the most likely futures of the boys. And there is only one in which you get your desired outcome, their freedom. It wanes in and out. Sometimes, it is the most prominent, and sometimes, it doesn’t show up at all. But that is all I know. I can see that they fall away like falling off the edge of a map. I can’t see beyond that. Only that they no longer belong to us.”

“There’s just one . . .”

“Yes.”

“I need details. I need something. We were going to go on the day of the eclipse.”

“No! They’re expecting you.”

“But it’s a new moon . . . the day She’s the weakest.”

“It does not matter. With the eclipse, the power is stronger. If you go on the day of Ascension, you will lose. They will not let anything stop Ascension.”

“Wait, what is Ascension?”

“The day the Gemini twins are inducted into The Guard.”

Zach and Luke would be inducted into The Guard . . .

“But we have to stop that from happening.”

“No. Listen to me, if you try to stop it, you will lose. Wait for the lights.”

“Lights?”

“Yes, you must go to the island. But wait for the lights. That’s all I can tell you.”

“What about Zach and Luke? Tell me how they are. Tell me they’re okay.”

The sides of her mouth twitched. “This is the last moon before they start to deteriorate. It happens to all who sit upon The Guard. But I-I have been trying to keep them at peace when I can.”

I hardly knew what that meant, but there was worry building in her eyes at the mention of them.

“Deteriorate.” I wanted to ask the meaning of that word, as, even in this place, it struck me with fear.

“How long will it take for the lights? How will I know what you’re talking about?”

“I can’t tell you. But you will know. Please remember you have to go. Fate will not change if you don’t. I want to this to be over, the same as you.”

“But—”

“No. You’ve been here too long.”

“I just got here.”

“Leave.” Without looking, she put her hands through the glass, grabbed my shoulders, and shoved me.