Page 13 of This Blood That Breaks Us (This Blood That Binds Us, #3)

Ten

Zach

“She was manipulating you.”

“No, I’m telling you, She was different. It had to be her. Cecily. And she’s trapped here like we are.”

Luke and I had been fighting about it all night, and now the morning light came through our bedroom window and we had places to be, but we were still fighting.

“Luke, She wants you to let your guard down.”

“No, She was burning up. And Her eyes were different.”

“Maybe She wore contacts and slept on a heating pad! Are you not getting it? These people will stop at nothing to draw us in. She’s a good actor. We know this already.”

“But the queen told me these stories. She missed her mom.”

“Yeah, like She knows you miss yours. She’s fucking with your head.”

He sat at the edge of his bed. “No, I think it’s real. It makes sense. Maybe the queen is weak on the night of the new moon, and Her human form comes out.”

“If that’s the case, then all we need to do to get out of here is sneak in Her room and kill Her in Her sleep.”

Luke’s eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t.”

“Yes I would! If it would get us out of here faster. Her human side would probably thank me for putting her out of her misery so she wouldn’t have to be some Hell Witch anymore.”

Luke’s wide-eyed horror made the guilt creep in for saying that.

“You wouldn’t feel that way if you saw Her like that. She was . . . so weak.”

My brother would not make it in a place like this. Everything he said sent my heart into an uneven frenzy. I couldn’t sit anymore. He was making me pace the floor, and I hated pacing.

“Luke. Please. Consider it for a second that She could have been doing it to gain your sympathy. That’s all I’m asking. Don’t you think that would work? Pretend to be a sweet, helpless girl who needs you to warm her because she’s so cold and vulnerable?”

He stopped paying attention to me and stared at the fireplace while I spoke.

“Don’t you think that would be a great plan on making you feel needed and wanted? And don’t you think She would pick you specifically for that because She knows it would work on you?”

“I . . . I don’t know. Yes. It makes sense. I’m just confused.”

I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I just want you to think about it. Because if we start trusting them, we’re never getting out of here. Don’t you want to get out of here?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Because while you were laying in bed with the queen all day yesterday, I think I found a way to get us all out of here. Well, kind of.”

I’d wavered for a moment but seeing that look in Luke’s eyes gave me the confidence I needed to ensure I’d get him out of this place before She poisoned him.

“Really?” Luke’s spark was back.

“No one watches the harbor. There is a ferry that takes people to the island, and they can see some of the property. A few of the members show tourists the far grounds, but other than that, it’s always empty. If we can find a way to get Will and Thane on a boat where they wouldn’t be missed, it could work.”

A loud knock sounded on our door. Probably Sirius. He had an angry knock.

“Talk about this later?”

Luke nodded, and we went for the door. I was right. Sirius, Thane, and William all stood outside our door. Thane looked way too happy to be a prisoner butler, and William was scowling at me. A typical day at the cult castle.

“You’re with Her today.” Sirius pointed at me.

“What about training?”

“You’re doing well. Better. But She specifically requested you today.”

“I guess we’ll get to test that theory today, then.” I turned to Luke. The dark circles under his eyes matched mine. It scared me a little.

“What theory?” Sirius said.

“Nothin’,” I said, forcing a bored expression over my face.

“Luke, we’ll be with Ezra today. We’re meeting clients in Derry.”

“I’d rather do that.”

Sirius didn’t even have to say anything. With the lowering of his brows, I shut up. It wasn’t fear but respect. Sirius was clear cut. He loved the queen and was loyal. He didn’t hide that he’d throw me into a woodchipper in a heartbeat for this place. I liked the honesty.

“Let me guess, I get to watch over these two as well.” I sighed.

“Unless you’d like to lock them up all day. It’s your choice.”

I cocked my head at Will with a taunting smile, and he flipped me off behind Sirius’s back.

“I’m sure I’ll figure out something for them to do.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me? I can ask Her to let me stay with you so you don’t have to be alone.” Luke rubbed at the skin around his nails.

“I’ll be okay. Stop worrying.”

Luke knew all my secrets. That’s why he was worried. A nasty habit. He was overthinking, wondering if I’d tell him if something went wrong.

“I promise I’ll tell you about my shitty feelings if needed. But it will be fine.”

He nodded.

Whatever Her plan was, I would not let it get me down. I’d decided to be neutral about it. There was still hope that I would get to hang out with this so-called vulnerable, nice girl Luke mentioned.

I would believe it when I saw it.

I pushed the double doors open.

She had Her hands wrapped around Henderson’s arm as She drank from him. Something hot ran through me all at once. I held my breath first, fearing it was Her blood that made me sick to my stomach, but I had a grip. I wasn’t losing control.

Was I jealous? Fuck.

I couldn’t watch, so I looked down at my shoes and thought about how fucking ugly they were. I hated the suits. Day number who knew in hell, and every day, I had to wear an itchy shirt.

When She was done, She smiled at me, wiping the blood from Her lips.

“Ah. I was waiting for you.”

Henderson bowed before pulling a hand through the dark curls on top of his head. He flashed those canines at me in a smirk as he walked past me. I clenched my fists. It would be so satisfying to rip his head off and shove it down his throat, and I could do stuff like that. No one would bat an eye.

“You seem tense.”

I tried to detect a hint of anything different. Her eyes were the same. No green, but a weird hazy, grayish white that made me feel like I was talking to a corpse. That’s all She was. Some holy being that walked around in a girl’s dead body.

“You look like hell,” I said.

“Didn’t your mother teach you how to treat a woman?”

Yep. Same bitch. Different day.

“You’re not a woman, so . . . ”

“Not a woman? Then this won’t bother you.”

She pulled down the sleeves of Her white silk gown, and it fell to the floor. Instinctively, I averted my gaze. I guessed I’d have to admire my shoes some more.

“Follow me.”

I did. I didn’t know why. There was a lot of that. Doing things because I had to. Because there was no other choice or because the demon witch made me feel like I wanted to.

I didn’t want to follow Her to Her en suite bathroom, but I did. It had a large pool-like spa with warm moody lighting. The water was already steaming.

“Why am I here for this?” I looked up at the ceiling.

“I like to have company.”

“Looked like you had plenty of company before.”

“Do I detect jealousy?”

“No.”

“Good. Because you don’t need to be. We can be as close as you desire.”

“Glad you said that. Let’s stay at least twenty feet away at any given time.” I stepped back a few feet.

“You don’t trust me.”

“Why the fuck would I trust you?”

I’d been raised never to call women obscenities. Mom hated cussing, but she’d gone ballistic the one and only time I’d called my teacher a cunt during junior year—she had it out for me and deserved it, but the queen was a cunt if I’d ever seen one.

I wasn’t buying it. The sweet, innocent act might be working on Luke, but not me.

“Can you pass me a towel?” She said.

I quickly handed it to Her and was ready to bolt. I’d done what She asked. I’d come to visit Her. But something was keeping me here.

Her gravity faltered, but it wasn’t the same pull that made me pray to Her in the church. It waned like a flickering light. Her body moved slower, and She struggled for a moment as She went to step out of the tub. Her foot slipped, but She caught Herself on the edge. I would have thought it was another one of Her shows, but I saw a shift in Her eyes. Her jaw hardened, and I reached for Her hand. I kept my attention solely on Her emerald eyes and handed Her a towel.

“Cecily.”

Her brow furrowed as I aided her out of the tub. Deep green stained her irises. “I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

“Liar, and a bad one at that.”

She scowled, but it was softer. Poutier. She took time to towel dry her hair. Her movements were slow like she lacked strength in her hands and arms.

“Luke was right.”

She moved to walk again, but I stepped in front of her. “Oh no. Not so fast. Tell me what you know about me and my brother.”

With her head down, she tried to walk past me, but I caught her arm. When our eyes met again, the green was fading.

“What’s wrong, princess? You don’t want to talk to me?”

Bright emerald seared through. “Queen. I’m a queen.”

“Not a good one.”

“Why are you being this way?”

“If it keeps your eyes that color, I’ll do anything. I’ve got questions that beg to be answered.”

“You’re not like your brother.”

“No. I’m not. I’m nothing like him. The sooner you realize it, the sooner we can understand each other.”

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “Speak quickly. I can already feel Her near. There are only two days out of the month I am close enough to the veil. And one of them I’m so weak I can hardly stand.”

“Good. I won’t want to speak to you again.”

The green stayed strong in her irises, and her frown deepened.

“How do we get out of here?”

“You don’t. You can’t. You can’t escape The Divine Plan. It is the most likely path, even now. Continuing to fight will only make you and your brother unhappy.”

I squeezed her arm. “Don’t talk about my brother like you care.”

“I wouldn’t hurt him.”

“You already have. You don’t even care about the girl you killed in front of him. You probably don’t even know her name.”

“Sarah was a threat to The Divine Path, and that is why she was killed. I did not do it. You would do well to remember that. If you try to stray from the path, they will punish you. There is no way out of this.”

“So we’re trapped here—you, me, and my brother—for the rest of eternity?”

She pulled her arm from my grasp and went to her wardrobe. “Unfortunately, yes.”

She dropped her towel to the floor and pulled out another silk nightgown.

“Why did She call me here today?”

“To keep you on the path. It’s always to keep you on Her path. She likely knew we’d have this very conversation.”

Did She know we were going to leave all along? Did She predict that too? Could She see every move? Every possibility and decision we could make. There was something unbelievably hopeless about it and, at the same time, relieving. If She was the mastermind, then we never stood a chance, and that meant it didn’t matter what I did. Right?

This was a huge problem. If Luke knew this girl was in the queen’s body, he’d never be able to let it go.

“It looks like you and I are going to be stuck together for a long time. Now, understand this, you leave Luke alone. You don’t ask for him on the new moons anymore. From now on, you ask for me.”

“Are you ordering me?” She’d slipped her dress on and climbed into her bed. The white haze was taking hold in her eyes again.

“Yes, if you really cared about my brother, you’d leave him alone.”

He gave himself away too much, and it always left him with nothing, and I wouldn’t let him do it anymore. He had nothing left to give.

Cecily stared into my eyes with what was left of her lingering in that body. A better man would have felt sorry for her, but all I felt was rage and hatred that probably had nothing to do with her. I couldn’t let her get close to Luke because he would cave. If the queen was going to ruin anyone, it should be me.

I wouldn’t tell him about this. I wouldn’t tell him anything.

Her eyes turned white again. “I will leave him alone, but it won’t work. She’ll pursue you both. And She’ll win. She always wins.”

“What do you know?”

“I can’t stay.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “She’s coming back.”

“Tell me, princess.”

“I’ve seen it. You’re both standing next to Her, guarding Her. It’s written all over the stars. A thousand times over. You look . . . so angry.”

Fuck the stars.

Fuck this place.

Fuck Her.