Page 58 of This Blood that Bonds Us
I sighed and wiped a fallen snowflake from her face. There wasn’t any use arguing with her, as that determined look in her eyes scorched me from head to toe.
“And if I’m not?”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” This time, she smiled.
Twenty-Two
Kimberly
“Are you sure?” Aaron eyed me with a thin-lipped frown. It didn’t suit him.
He flinched away from a candle on a bookshelf next to his head. The shelves were lined to the ceilings in books with cracked spines, and the smell of parchment filled my senses.
I understood Aaron’s hesitation, but I was confident I was up for the task, whatever it might be.
Meeting Kilian again took me back to the church where everything began. I remembered it all. The smell of wax and cedar and the salt air tinging the saliva on my lips. Since we’d been trying to find The Legion, I’d thought of that day repeatedly, and the moment I couldn’t forget—Zach and Luke bursting through the church doors. They’d been prepared to die, even in my place as a practical stranger. “I’m glad I met you,”Luke had said. They both looked death in the face with a smile. In comparison, tapping into the queen’s power was easy.
Touching the cool blade of the dagger resting in my lap, I smiled at Aaron.
“Let’s do it.”
We weren’t alone. Halina, Dom, and Felix were scattered around the room in various fabric-lined chairs. I’d expected more pushback from them. I remembered their scowling faces back in Blackheart not that long ago, but everything had changed for them and for us. All that old resistance separating us was no longer important because we’d all lost people. We’d been only kids in their eyes before, and now we were important to them. With Thane, Will, and Skylar gone, their mission to kill the queen was all they had.
The time for games and laughing was over.
“I’m going to read over the phrase on the dagger as it’s listed in the text.”
“How long is this going to take?” Aaron’s knees were touching mine. He’d finally stopped pacing to take the chair beside me.
I hated to worry him. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the unknown of Kilian’s plans either.
“It could take all night, or it may not be useful at all. I’m not certain the passages referencing the dagger are accurate. It will be trial and error. Ancient texts were created of the ritual during the first queen’s creation to document the discovery, but many of those passages are gone. There’s power in them, and The Family has gone great lengths to keep the information to themselves. Much of it has been destroyed by The Legion as well. But we were able to take these from the monastery during our last altercation. They have promise.”
“We should start then,” I said.
“Wait? How will she know if it’s working? What will it feel like?” Aaron said.
“I’m not sure. This is an experiment.”
“Okay, but what if it’s painful or something?”
“Aaron, we’re trying it regardless.” I squeezed his hand resting on his knee.
He nodded. “Whatever happens. I’m right here.”
His eyes sparkled with unending confidence, and I was sure I needed no other assurance than that.
Kilian wet his finger and flipped through a few pages while sitting on a desk a few feet in front of us.
I nodded, and a long string of words trickled from Kilian’s lips. It almost sounded like a song. Latin. I felt nothing other than the cold silver of the dagger.
“Should we take a break?” Dom asked after two in the morning.
We’d been there for hours wondering if it was possible the moon’s position in the sky had any bearing on the ritual, or even our proximity to them. But my new body didn’t falter or ache.It was strange how quickly I’d forgotten how pain and tiredness felt in the body. It made time pass quickly and without fuss.
Aaron rubbed my leg, awaiting my answer.
“Just a little longer.”
