Page 91 of This Blood that Bonds Us

“Skylar didn’t believe that for you, though.”

“What?” I stopped my watering to look at her.

“She was adamant that you’d get to live and make your own decisions. She talked about it a lot actually. It used to get on my last nerve.”

The memory of our talk by the fountain almost brought tears to my eyes. I moved to wipe them, expecting Halina to scowl or scoff, but her brows softened, and she offered a sympathetic smile.

“She liked looking after you. I think . . . she liked watching you all have a life we didn’t.”

“I miss her.”

“Me too. But I have a feeling I’ll see her real soon.” Halina nodded while tucking a long blonde hair behind her ear. Her attention went back to pruning the dead leaves from William’s plants.

As the dead leaves fell, she snatched them up one by one. Halina had made peace with death like it was just another part of life. Fighting would require great sacrifice so life could thrive and go on to live, and I still wasn’t sure I’d made peace with that fact.

“Kimberly, I’d love a word with you.” Anzola’s low voice startled me.

I’d been getting ready to leave and had showered the blood off and was brushing my wet hair in one of the spare bedrooms. She had settled into a long velvet robe like she, too, had the same idea. It broke down my image of her. She conducted herself with the same carefulness as Kilian, and suddenly, she was just a woman like me.

I moved to sit on the bed.

The weight of Anzola’s gaze was heavy on my face. Her presence itself was heavy enough. Something old and official.

“Kimberly, I want to be direct with you. Kilian has informed me of what you’ve been working on with the rituals. The sheer fact that you’re able to access the power of the dagger is unprecedented and something that’s never been done before. Your very existence on this plane in time is very interesting to me. I plan on being there for the next ritual, and I hope to aid you in your endeavors. If only I could tell the council about you . . .”

“The council doesn’t know Kilian has one of the daggers, do they?”

“No, and if they did, they’d take it in an instant.”

“But you won’t say anything?”

“Kilian and I have a long history. I know he does not take such a responsibility lightly. And if he’s able to succeed in his life’s mission of taking down the coven, all the better.”

I had many questions lingering on my tongue but none I’d ask aloud. The council was nothing I cared to know about unless it would aid us, and it didn’t sound like they cared to help. Therefore, their history and their story meant nothing to me, and like Kilian, they couldn’t be fully trusted.

“And if Kilian fails? Will you help then? If your precious dagger is lost.” I was surprised by the conviction in my voice, butI was tired of being everyone’s spectacle. It made no difference to any of them if my family lived or died. They would go on holding their trials and judging those like the Calem brothers and sitting in the shadows waiting for others to make the first move. What would the council of The Legion say at the postmortem meeting of all our stories? Would they tell tales of a battle that ended in catastrophe? I could see it now. A group of hopeful kids thought they could defeat them, but they failed miserably, and only in that failure did they decide to pick up the pieces after.“If only they’d waited.”

If they didn’t want to help, they were no longer of any use to me.

“Very intuitive. The council believes the coven still possesses it.”

“And they don’t care? What if more queens are made?”

“The ritual requires very specific texts, and they’ve all been destroyed or are in our possession. And many aren’t interested in sharing any of their affections with another queen.”

“Anzola, I appreciate you helping at all, but all I care about is getting our family back together. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. Whatever it is you want from me, I’m only doing it for the sake of my own. I have no interest in conversing about the council and The Legion.”

“That’s why I will help. The council will not. It may not mean much, and I do not wish to persuade you to trust me, but regardless, I am here to help you, and I believe I can help you better access the power in the dagger. Kilian tells me you’ve used it a few times.”

“Yes, but I don’t think I’m doing it right. It’s inconsistent. It shows me brief images, and I don’t know what they mean.”

“The Family believes in Divine power. They believe the power in our blood given to us by queens is a gift. But I believe it to be a malevolent spirit. To them, their queens are God in the formof a woman. The equivalent of a messiah sent to help them form relationships and bonds that the greater powers cannot create themselves. The council has their own varying religions and consider their practices blasphemous.”

That must be where all the council business Kilian picked up came from. The trial and the prayers Aaron had spoken about.

“And you?”

“I’ve wavered throughout my life, much like Kilian, but I do believe in something greater . . . on most days.”