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

52. Fifty-Two

Fifty-Two

Kimberly

How much longer did I have? Finding a way to help everyone in battle was the most important thing, and still, I had nothing. Anzola must have known I was desperate. Desperate enough to gather on the day of the eclipse and try the dagger one last time.

The whole house was in a flurry. The usual group gathered with us in the library. Felix, Dom, and Halina. Kilian was seated as usual and studying with careful observation. It was quiet. The usual casual chatter disappeared weeks ago. The battle was close. It could be any day, and we were all tired.

Tired of gathering in the library.

Tired of rituals.

Tired of planning.

“I think . . . this energy will be different today. If I’m correct, it should be just as Cecily said. Stronger.” Anzola had set up candles on the floor, and she moved to each with precision and a whispered prayer under her breath. “Lay here.”

Aaron helped me to the floor. He was oddly quiet, and his attention stayed on Anzola as she glided from one side of the room to another.

“We’ll wait for the eclipse to head directly over the island. It should be any minute now.”

Anzola kneeled in front of me. “I want you to recite the words this time.”

“Me?”

She nodded. “Testing something. We’ll recite them together.”

I recognized all the Latin words she said even if I didn’t know what they meant. I’d heard Kilian recite them over and over, and I’d been practicing them. I did as she said, listening for the exact pronunciation.

Aaron placed the dagger in my hand, and I grabbed the handle, focusing on the weight. The sharp memory of the hilt sticking out from the middle of his chest sliced through me.

I hoped Cecily could show me something better.

With a smearing of blood on the dagger, I did as Anzola had taught me. I lay back on the floor with the dagger in my hand and recited the words. It sounded like an old song—ancient and lyrical.

I closed my eyes and willed it to take me. Cecily, I want to speak with you. Show me where you are.

Minutes must have passed without my recollection because when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else. At the bank of a pond surrounded by fog and a bluish-green haze. The pond was surrounded by lanterns burning with fire and men lined up by the water.

A haze of white thrashing came into my view. Cecily was restrained and shoved into the wet grass that dirtied her legs and dress. She screamed and flailed as they tied a rope around her hands and dragged her toward the water.

The crowd muttered in a dull roar.

“Will it work?”

“What will she give us?”

Another man yelled with exuberance. It sounded like the equivalent of a feral animal. “Behold your queen.”

“Why?” was the only word Cecily said.

“Sister, did you think you were fit to rule? You don’t have the stomach.” He pulled out a silver dagger and sliced her palm before licking a drop and drenching the rest of the dagger in it. The blood oozed into the hilt. “But you’re not useless. You may bring us prosperity yet. Your husband agreed. You’re the perfect sacrifice.”

He motioned to another man with thick, broad shoulders and brown hair, but his features didn’t hold the same carnivorous desires building in Cecily’s brother’s eyes. Instead, he averted his gaze to the water behind her.

She opened her mouth to speak, but someone grabbed her from behind and stuffed a cloth between her lips. The chant started, and there was movement everywhere. The crowd surrounded her and pushed her toward the water.

With her hands tied behind her back, her brother’s hand forced her head underwater. The light from the fire illuminated the surface until the trailing air bubbles from her muffled screams stopped.

This was her death.

She’d been betrayed by her brother, and he’d used her fiancé to create a coup. Everyone she’d trusted had betrayed her. I waited for the memory to fade, but then she emerged wet and dripping. Stronger.

The men’s eyes widened in horror.

The one she called brother didn’t move. Her hand reached for him, and he dropped the dagger as she snapped his neck in one easy motion. I expected the others to flee, but they stared at her in awe.

A groaning alerted her to the grass, where a bloody Ezra had dragged himself to the edge of the pond.

“My queen.”

“My Love. I can make you well again,” she said as she bit her wrist, then brought it to his lips to drink.

The memory evaporated, but Cecily and I remained. Her green eyes snapped to me. “Why are you here?”

“I’m sorry . . .” What could I say? It was cruel. I’d never seen something so horrific in my lifetime.

“It tricked me. That’s why you must end this. The Thing will try to scare you, but you have to go to the island. I’m stuck here. Reliving this moment over and over. It’s my punishment from that Thing.”

“I promise. I’m going.”

“Use the dagger to draw Her out.”

Cecily opened her mouth to say more but stopped. Her eyes widened. “She knows you’re here.”

There on the banks of the river stood a convulsing woman. She hadn’t been there before. I had the instinct to run. I felt the danger. The menacing aura.

The head of the figure snapped around to face me. Before I could move, it slithered toward me in jagged movements. I wasn’t prepared for what stared back at me.

It was me . . .

“What do we have here?” A strange voice strangled out of the figure that looked like me. Same dark hair and face but with black eyes and gaunt hollow cheeks.

I turned to find Cecily, and she was gone. The figure followed the motion of my head, standing nose to nose with me.

“The lonely girl has come to play.” It wasn’t my voice but a distorted sort of noise.

“What are you?” I asked.

“Compared to you, I’m a god.” The Thing in front of me was unnatural. Its expression could be described only as something out of a horror film. A grin twisted into a look so sinister it was unnatural. In the real world, I’d have been scared, but here, I could feel no emotion.

It eyed me up and down. Analyzing.

“You would have made such a beautiful queen. You have enough hate.”

I said nothing. Every attempt to move only brought it closer to my face, centimeter by centimeter.

“The lonely girl destined to be alone for eternity.”

The laugh that left its chest sent a jolt of electricity through me. I couldn’t be scared here, but I knew I needed to run.

“What are you saying?”

“If you had taken the gift I offered, you’d feel nothing but bliss. And instead, I get to play with you and take away everything you care about. Lonely girl.”

“Stop that.”

“Lonely girl. It’s written in the stars. Can you read them? I can. Kimberly Burns. You live many lifetimes feeling empty and unwanted.”

“It’s not true.”

“Isn’t it? Can you read them? No, you can’t, mortal. But I do. I read them over and over. And you are the most nothing I’ve ever seen. You don’t matter. In every timeline, you mean nothing. You die alone. And them . . . those boys you call family . . . are mine. I take them from you, and it’s oh so good. All the goodness and love and innocence. It’s mine. And I’ll have fun squeezing it out of them. Every delicious drop until my thirst is finally quenched.”

“No.”

“Yes.” It smiled back at me. “And your Aaron is my favorite. The things that man can do . . . He is quite the lover. And soon, she’ll have her hands all over him. Or we will. It’s all the same.”

I shouldn’t have felt anything, but suddenly, my body was hot. Burning hot.

The Thing motioned to the water I’d hardly remembered we were standing by. Cecily was there face down. This place wasn’t real. It was all an illusion. I was seeing what It wanted me to see, and I needed to get out.

It was close again, and my skin grew warmer.

“You really thought I wouldn’t find out about you using the dagger to try to speak to the stars.”

“It worked,” I said. “They do speak to me.”

It frowned. “In normal circumstances, I’d make you a deal. Like me and Cecily have. She didn’t have to accept the ritual. None of them do. They can choose death instead. But she had so much hate. Beautiful, glorious hate. And now she tortures men for eternity, and I get what I need.”

Blood. Love. Goodness. This Thing devoured life itself. That’s what fueled It. She needed them like we needed blood to survive.

I spoke slowly. The heat under my skin only rising by the second. “It bothers you, doesn’t it? That I lived? Something is happening that you’re afraid of.”

“Why would I be afraid of something as insignificant as you? Are you not hearing me? It’s written in the stars. They are mine. You can’t save him. Or . . . maybe you don’t want to do the things that would keep him safe. What if your precious lover’s only chance at surviving is spending eternity with me? Did you ever think that?”

“I think . . . you want me to be scared because you’re scared.”

The figure said nothing. Its long hair tickled the skin on my face, but I didn’t shrink or cower.

Then I understood. As long as I had the dagger, I was connected to the queen.

They couldn’t leave the island because they needed me and the dagger, and all Her servants needed Her. We had them cornered. They had nothing to do but wait for us to arrive.

“I’ll see you soon,” we said it at the same time.

It reached for me, and I reached for It, then the room was black.

When I opened my eyes, Aaron stood before me. His back was turned, and his shoulders were tight and rigid while he gripped the dagger and eyed Anzola. The entire room was . . . destroyed.

Everyone was on the ground. Halina was helping Felix out of a bookcase that was cracked in half. Anzola stood behind Kilian, who stood on the defensive.

I tried to grasp everything faster to find the danger Aaron had detected.

“What happened?”

At my voice, Aaron dropped the dagger and fell to his knees in front of me. The darkness and gray in his eyes dissipated.

“She tried to keep you under. And I made her stop. I’m sorry,” he said, wiping some wetness from under my eyes and my nose. Blood. Black Blood. Mine.

“Is that mine?”

His voice shook. “Yes. You were bleeding. I got scared and panicked.”

“That’s panicking for you?” Halina said.

“I think you owe us an apology,” Felix grumbled as he dusted off his clothes.

Aaron had knocked them all down. The bookshelves, the desks, all of it was broken on the ground, and all their eyes were on Aaron, not in fear but in wonderment and awe. Even Kilian was speechless.

“It’s okay. I would have done the same,” I said.

He touched his head to mine like there wasn’t a slew of eyes watching us. With a firm grip on my shoulder, he pulled me in for a hug.

“You scared me.”

“I’m sorry.” I rubbed at his back.

“Do you feel all right?” Dom was the next to speak.

“Uh. Yeah. I feel fine,” I said.

They were still staring.

Anzola’s exuberant excitement concerned me the most. “Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable.”