Page 57 of This Blood that Bonds Us

He was a fraud and a liar. My palms flamed, and I clenched my fist. I wondered what would have happened if we’d met someone from the real Legion. The type that wanted to keep to the rules. Something told me we’d have never made it out of the church. I wanted to be mad at Kilian, and I was. He’d done nothing but lie and bend the truth. He used me and my brothers for his own gain. And still, he may be the only reason we were alive. If they’d never picked us up in Blackheart, Akira would have taken us all back to Her.

“Is this because of your brother?” Kimberly asked Kilian. I hardly remembered that bit of information.

The color leached from Kilian’s face. “Yes. My brother was inquisitive and curious. He had invested interest in this queen. And now, so do I. We tried once before to take them down, and we were unsuccessful. Though we did bring down a member of Her Guard, my brother couldn’t be saved.”

My chest tightened. I couldn’t even think of losing one of my brothers. When I looked at Kilian’s solemn face, my perspective shifted. It didn’t change the things he did, and I didn’t agree with his methods, but there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to get my brothers back. That feeling could lead anyone down a dark path. If I didn’t have Kimberly firmly pressed against me or my little brother to look after, things might be different.

“I’m sorry,” I said, knowing it was stupid. I probably should have hated him more than I did, but I wasn’t an angry child anymore. All the anger I had would be better disbursed on the people who took my brothers from me and were currently holding them.

Kilian nodded. “We need you. Both of you.”

He looked at Kimberly, and I felt prickly all over.

“We’ve never had a woman with such close connection to the bloodline. Now that you’ve been changed, we want to test some things. One thing we need for the battle is an advantage. Right now, with the queen’s abilities, it will be easier for Her to see us coming, who we’re bringing, and more options for our attacks and our most likely day of arrival.”

“What kind of tests?” I asked, my muscles tightening.

“This might be hard to believe,” Kilian said.

Kimberly and I shared a look and shrugged. There wasn’t much we wouldn’t believe.

“The full moon is tonight, and with this dagger and Kimberly, I believe we can access some of that power and use it to our advantage.”

“How?”

“On the night of the full moon, She feels the most connection to Her power source. We will tap into it and hopefully be able to use it, possibly Her clairvoyance. I have not been able to test any of my theories until now.”

“Through Kimberly,” I said flatly.

I didn’t like it. He had that look in his eye again that glowed with something more than hope. It was hard to trust a desperate man. Backpedaling was an understatement. Suddenly, all those thoughts about not being angry were gone.

“What would I need to do?” Kimberly asked.

“I will try a few incantations. I’m not certain it will work, but I’ve never been able to try until now. The queen doesn’t change women, and the ones She did, died long ago. Skylar’s blood was too far removed, as is Halina’s. I’ve tried it on myself, but I’m a mutt by blood as well. I theorized that it may only connect with women. The entity has always favored women.”

“Kim, I don’t like this,” I said, knowing they’d hear.

“This is not a coincidence. Us meeting on this day. Meeting here of all places. This is destiny. From the moment we first met, everything was aligning for this purpose.”

I hide to fight an eye roll at that one.

“Can we have a minute?” Kimberly asked.

“Of course.” Kimberly grabbed my hand and guided me to the front porch. It was snowing again.

“We can’t trust them,” I said.

“I know. But Kilian is just desperate enough that I . . . believe it.”

“We don’t know what the ritual is.”

“I know. But I’m willing to try it.” She looked off into the distance before staring deep into my eyes. “Aaron, if you want to find your brothers and save them, it’s going to be hard. And it’s going to cost. I don’t think we’ll always like what it costs, but Ithink we need to try. We need to take risks. If we play it safe, I don’t think we’ll find them.”

She was right.

“I don’t want you to do anything that could hurt you. And they wouldn’t want you to do that either.”

“And I’m telling you it might, and I’m okay with it.”