Page 64 of This Blood that Bonds Us (This Blood that Binds Us #4)

Sixty-Two

Kimberly

Our time in Alaska was over—at least for now. And as I stared out onto the field of snow, I knew I’d miss it. Though it had been without a doubt the most challenging months of my life and I was tired of snow melting into my socks, leaving brought a lump into my throat.

Aaron actually believed I’d let him go by himself. I smiled at the thought. After a couple hours, I’d felt the hollowness of his absence. Once, I’d grown so accustomed to doing everything on my own, but I looked over my shoulder wishing he were there to wrap his arm around me again. The absence of his support and warmth felt unnatural.

“Are you ready?” Kilian placed a passport in my hand.

I slid my sunglasses on. The illuminating glare from the snow and the metal of the small charter plane would have been enough to put me on my knees a few months ago. Now it was just mildly annoying.

Vera wanted to see me off, but I couldn’t do that to her. I begged her to stay with her boyfriend while we were away so she wouldn’t be alone. I knew she was waiting, and that was okay because someone would come for her. Even if that someone wasn’t me.

“I’m ready.”

Echoes of Kilian’s and my conversation in his study replayed in my head. After talking with Cecily during the last ritual, I knew my plan had to change.

“I have to go too. I won’t wait two weeks.”

Kilian flinched and the candlelight on his desk deepened the wrinkles on his face. “ You’re referring to the plan with Aaron and Presley . . . What do you know?”

“I know Aaron’s life is on the line and so is mine. Cecily said I needed to be there on the island if I wanted us to win . . . that I might die, but it would save them. I can’t wait and let them go alone. I have to go. I know you’re going to try to tell me that it’s too dangerous or that we’re all your valuable little chess pieces and you can’t risk it, but this is my family. I made a promise. I need to be there . . . to die if that’s what has to happen.”

“Okay.”

“Just like that?”

He nodded. “I will adjust my plans and see what I can do as far as getting you to the country on your own.”

There was a brief silence between us, and I breathed in a sigh of relief.

“I won’t stand in the way of you and your family. I promised I would not again.”

The cold wind brought me back to reality.

I was alone again, standing next to a small charter plane while the wind blew fluffy snow onto my lashes.

“You’ll arrive close to twenty-four hours after him with the drive and the ride over to the island. All you need to do is not get killed before we arrive.”

I had no idea how I would manage that. Kilian needed me to fight . . . but maybe I wasn’t even going to make it to the battle. Maybe I’d need to die beforehand.

“Just one.” Cecily’s words echoed in my head.

I’d have to play it by ear and be smart. I’d know the right time. Oddly enough, I wasn’t scared all. I was only a little nervous to get on the plane, but dying . . . I could accept it if it saved my family, and that somehow made everything else feel unimportant.

I was to arrive on the mainland of Ireland and take over the ferry. Kilian mentioned someone would be waiting for me at the airport that could help guide me to the harbor.

“What about all of you?” I asked, staring at our group.

Only a handful had come to see me off. Felix and Halina—I think she made Felix come—Dom and Kilian.

“I promise on my brother’s life we will come through for you.”

Kilian’s words startled me. He never sounded encouraging. Always stern and authoritative but never hopeful. I held out my hand to shake his. I’d finally made peace with our odd relationship.

Dom nodded. “We wouldn’t let you go alone.”

I hugged him, and Skylar was all I could think of. His body had no give.

He said, “She’d loved to see this.”

I would make her proud one way or another. This was the path I’d chosen. I would protect my family, and like Skylar, I had a clear mission. If Aaron was the bait, I was the sacrifice. It would look like a clear surrender. Only, I wasn’t sure if She’d let me live more than a few minutes with that decision.

Aaron never would have allowed it if he knew.

“One last thing.” Kilian’s jaw flexed. “You’ll take the dagger along with you.”

“What if they take it?”

“We’ll know where to find it. It may prove useful to you before our arrival, and I wouldn’t want to put you at a disadvantage. Try to keep track of it.”

I wondered then if he trusted us to do this. Kilian stayed the same. We hadn’t grown closer, and I was okay with that. Aaron had told me what Kilian had gone through with his brother, and though it didn’t make me more inclined to trust or like him, I understood him more than I ever had.

Kilian lost his mind for love.

“Won’t this be giving Her exactly what She wants?”

“Yes.”

Kilian stared through me for a moment. There was more he couldn’t say. We’d agreed not to know the plan. I’d also agreed to a suicide mission, which was likely exactly what Kilian needed. Possibly. Maybe.

It didn’t matter. It wasn’t something I needed to figure out. I needed to trust Aaron and his dream.

“Okay.”

“You’re the only one who can perform the ritual.” Dom gave me an affirming nod.

“You’re confident you can remember the transcripts?” Kilian asked.

“Yes, I’ve been practicing and writing them out daily.”

It was imperative to learn the words on my own so I could tap back into the dagger’s power and distract the queen while Kilian’s men ambushed, whenever that would be. Because of Cecily, we discovered there was still power that could be tapped into during this moon cycle, but how strong it was, was still unknown.

“All right. I’m ready.” Felix hadn’t stopped swaying.

Halina interjected. “Me too. We’ll see you on the other side, then, Burns?

“I . . . my last name is Calem. No matter what happens, please remember me like that. Kimberly Calem.”

They nodded with reverence—Halina with a smile that reached her eyes, Dom loosened his shoulders, and even Felix met my eyeline and smirked—while Kilian bowed his head.

I couldn’t see the future, but I knew that was the last time I’d ever set eyes on them all together at the same time. With the dagger in hand, I walked onto the plane and toward the fate of the stars.