Page 102 of This Blood that Bonds Us

“Yeah. Thank you . . . for this whole day. It’s nice. Sorry if I was an ass.”

“Not more than usual. Either way, I can handle it.”

I know.I let my brother’s laughter comfort me and looked up at the trail ahead with only the power of his hope to keep me moving forward.

Forty-Four

Presley

I held out as long as I could from seeing Kilian again, but since I’d agreed to help, I couldn’t exactly stay away from them.

Anzola had the same creepy vibe Kilian gave off, only slightly less. Her eyes at least reminded me a little of Mom’s. Not likeKilian’s, which seared into my soul and sucked all the life out of the room. He needed contacts or something. Someone had to tell him, and it wouldn’t be me.

They even had a piano no one knew how to play—one of them had to have seenTwilightwhen decorating that house.

Aaron and Kilian said their pleasantries to the others, then we gathered in the dining room at the grand table that took up almost all the space. The moon joined us through the windows, and I averted my gaze to the little piece of string on my jacket.

“I’m glad you’re all here. We’ve made great progress in our reconnaissance. With the help of drones and a few locals, we were able to come up with a map of the castle grounds as well as get a map of the whole island.”

Kilian nodded to Dom, and he spread out a large piece of paper.

“Thisis the island . . .” Aaron said as he gawked.

It was detailed and larger than I’d imagined. When they said island, I thought about something you could easily walk across, but this had a whole town, a harbor by the castle, and a bunch of hills and houses.

I was more interested in the other map. The one that showed the castle. I studied it over and over. The labyrinth and the garden, a cathedral, and a church. It didn’t seem real that my brothers were in that place as their new home, but I had the proof embedded into my memory from the photograph.

“The only unknown is that we do not know what the inside of the castle looks like. There are no known records, only a few vague descriptions and a few pictures from tourism in the area. But we can assume that there are numerous hiding places. That brings me to my next idea that I wanted to present to all of you.”

This should be good.It was likely he wanted us to run into fire or something.

“With Presley’s involvement with the phone, we could create a diversion for them. What we need is for them to let their guard down. Every one of you that they capture will feel like a win to them.”

“You mean use my little brother as bait?” That familiar darkness flickered in Aaron’s eyes, and his nostrils flared.

I was kind of honored Aaron was about to blow a gasket but for me this time.

“She will not hurt him. That much is clear. It will be a temporary distraction, and they are expecting him. They will likely believe it to be a part of their future plan.”

“I’ll do it.” Finally, something I could do that would actually be helpful.

“No.” Aaron shook his head, his shoulders stiffened.

“I’m a grown man. I can choose.”

“I know, I . . .” Then he gave me the puppy-dog look—I changed my mind. It was lethal to everyone, not just women. “Family huddle.”

“We can hear your huddles,” Felix stated as the three of us retreated to the corner of the room, next to a huge monstera I remembered as Will’s.

“This is a bad idea,” Aaron said.

“I told you I wanted to help.”

“I can’t let you go off on your own and be bait.”

“What does Kim think?”

Kimberly’s jaw was set like she was thinking.