Page 166 of This Blood that Bonds Us

The library Zach had shoved me into when we arrived remained untouched. I went for the little black book again, immediately flipping through to the back.

Dear Sirius,

It’s too late for you to get this letter. Ascension is upon us, and any minute they will fetch me.

I’ve fought for us as long as I could, brother. Though you were lost long ago.

Our hope is gone. I can no longer imagine a future in another place that does not include Her.

My only regret is that I did not die for you sooner. Then we could run and never look back.

Then it all made sense. The prophecy. Sirius and his brother. Eros had loved his brother as I loved mine, and he ended up enthralled with Her. All the poems made sense. Lifeblood goes on forever.

I could break my brother’s thrall to the queen.I was the key.

Seventy-Three

Kimberly

I opened my eyes. The dirty cell slowly came into view. Aaron was on the other side of the bars, rubbing my back.

“Did it work?” I asked. “I couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t the same as before, but the chanting was correct, I think.”

“It worked,” he muttered while tracing along my jaw. “That’s how I knew where to find the real dagger.”

My world was expanding, and I finally took in his condition. Blood stained his shirt at his side and his chest. His arms had rubble and sticks embedded in them.

“Oh my god, are you okay? I told Thane to get to you.”

“He did. He blew up the cathedral door, and I was able to escape. Otherwise, Sirius would have definitely killed me.”

“You fought Sirius?”

“Yeah. It’s a long story. But I need that dagger.”

I handed it to him without another thought.

“Right. We need to go and finish this. Did you get the key to let me out?” I asked, knowing what was coming next.

My time was almost up. It was too fast. I needed more time with him. To tell him all the things I didn’t know I needed to say yet. To show how much I wanted this life with him. But I had to die. I didn’t know why my death needed to happen. It didn’t matter. I finally had a family, and they were worth dying for.

“Kim, I think I figured out something you’re not going to like.”

I think I knew too. That there was some loophole somewhere I hadn’t accounted for.

“What is it?”

He took the dagger and stood up.

“What are you doing?”

“Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Aaron, let me out. I have to go to the battle. It’s the only way this ends well. I have to. Cecily said—”

He reached for me between the bars, and even through the roaring of blood in my head and the anger, I let him grab me and pull me close.

“I know. But I figured out the message. The visions the stars gave you. It wasn’t a warning. It was showing you the right path.The thing that was supposed to happen. I know how to save my brothers.”