Page 167 of This Blood that Bonds Us

He didn’t say it, but I knew. My heart was tearing. I was breaking from the inside.

“No. No. No. Let me out. I’ll go with you. We’ll do it together.”

“You know I can’t let you go with me because you’ll try to stop me. And I love that about you, but this time I have to do this. You have to let me do this.”

“You can’t go. You know what will happen.”

Nothing could have prepared me for the grief. I think I always knew but wouldn’t admit it to myself. I wanted it to be me. It would have been easier to die than to live without him.

“It’s going to work out. This is going to be over, and we’ll be free. I still think it’s going to be okay. Somehow, this is going to work out, and we’re going to go home. Believe with me.”

I couldn’t. The price was too high. The tears poured down my cheeks, and I reached for him, like it would stop time. Like I’d have more time with him. Like it wasn’t the end.

He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. Through tears, I straightened it. Our forever list.

“Promise me you’ll try.”

He had a place he needed to be, and I had to let him. As much as I wanted to scream and beg him to stay, I couldn’t say a word. We’d agreed on our mission. One that was just and right with the world, even if it didn’t feel right to the emotion threatening to cave in my chest.

“Don’t say goodbye to me, Aaron Calem.”

“Never. I don’t think we were ever meant to say goodbye anyway. Probably why it’s been impossibly hard.”

“I think you’re right.”

He kissed me through the bars, and the swirl of emotions threatened to topple me to the ground. Not goodbye. A see youlater. My mind screamed at me in desperation, forcefully playing tug of war and fighting the urge to beg him to stay. I wanted to beg. To plead.

“I love you.” I staggered out a breath. Trying to keep my voice steady and not let the grief keep me from him. I opened myself further. “I’ll try. I promise.”

“I love you, Mrs. Calem.” He leaned his head onto the bars until our foreheads touched. “I’ll find you.”

He didn’t shed a single tear. Somehow, he was still smiling. The bright kind of smile that only eternally optimistic people do. That kind that made me want to believe this wasn’t our last moment together. That maybe just maybe when he disappeared from my sight it wouldn’t be the last time I looked at that golden hair and the light in his eyes.

He broke away from me and disappeared into the corridor, running.

Our time was up.

Seventy-Four

Aaron

This time, I ran. Slow at first, but I picked up speed into a full sprint. I knew what I needed to do. My body didn’t hurt anymore. With the dagger in one hand, I rushed toward the cathedral where the sounds of another fight raged on.

Luke had Presley nestled with the queen on the altar while he stood guarding them. Next to him, Presley was moving his hands along the wall under the pulpit stairs like he was searching for something,

A larger fight had unfolded. Ezra, Sirius, and Kilian fought in a collective bloody mess.

Kilian—still remarkably resilient—fought blow for blow. Sirius was slower now. Sloppy. Still, Kilian wouldn’t last long. He needed help.

There were others, the last of our forces were battling it out on the floor.

Zach grabbed my shoulder. “There you are. Fuck. Don’t scare me like that.”

“Wait, you’re not shunning me like Luke and Presley?”

“She wants you alive.”

“Comforting.”