Page 32 of This Blood That Breaks Us (This Blood That Binds Us, #3)

Twenty-Six

Luke

“Help me! Please!”

I sped across the lawn to catch a falling crate from Connell. He had a stack of wooden crates fitted with holes. They smelled like a petting zoo, and an echo of squeaking and squawking came from inside.

“Thank you, Luke, The Most Gracious One,” Connell said.

Thane appeared beside me and grabbed another of Connell’s crates.

“When did you come up with that?” Thane chuckled as he softly placed the crates on the ground.

“I wanted to come up with a name that felt worthy of Luke as a member of The Guard.”

“Oh. What is all this?” I asked.

“I’m restocking the pond. I’ve been put in charge of all of it. Want to help? Sirius said I could name all the animals if I want. I’d love the company.”

“What do you think, Thane? Do we have time?”

“I’ve got all the time in the world.”

We made our way to the pond and helped Connell unload his crates. Half were ducks and ducklings, and the others were filled with fish in plastic bags. The overcast of clouds left a chill in the air, and the soft wind from the nearby sea blew the green algae covering our pond.

Our pond. This was my new home. Taking care of the grounds was something I’d need to get used to.

“You see any that are calling to you, sir?” Connell said.

A large white duck sat in a crate surrounded by her ducklings, and I leaned over to see them cuddled together.

“Welcome home.”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Zach’s shadow blocked the sun.

“Here. Meet Cindy.” I plopped the mother duck into his arms. “Isn’t she cool? I named her.”

“It’s a duck,” Thane said.

“Yeah, I see that.” Zach held out his arms to get her away from him.

“There’s one more if you want to name it.” Thane kneeled and scooped up a little yellow duck.

“Come on. It won’t kill you to name a fluffy animal,” I said.

“It might.”

I placed Cindy on the shore, and Zach got handed his little duck. Her ducklings pooled around her in an excited flurry.

“Fine. What about Cerberus?”

“That’s perfect, sir.” Connell put Cerberus next to Cindy, and they waddled toward the water. “Zach, The Just, bestowed you the highest honor, littlest sir.”

“What did he call me?” Zach whispered, and I held in my laughter.

The ducks waded into the water. Cindy’s white coat stood out in the bluish-green water.

“I had an actual reason for being here. I’m looking for Will. I can’t find him anywhere. He was supposed to be waiting for me outside the door when I was with Sirius, and he vanished.”

“We’ll all help look!” Connell said.

Zach’s smile faded. His worry was felt in the pit of my stomach. We all split up. Connell went back into the castle while the rest of us scoured the grounds. The grass was muddy and wet from yesterday’s rain, and I spotted a pair of prints leading from the castle and straight through the garden. Whoever it was made a beeline in one direction, walking through the mud and smearing it all over the stones in the garden.

As I followed the steps past the maze, I knew where they were headed. The old church’s door was wide open.

“Will?” I called out as I reached the doorframe.

There was a soft stirring, and when I walked inside, he was sitting on his knees in the corner with his forehead pressed firmly against the mural. With no sun, the old church was dim, only illuminated with burning candles.

“I found him!” I called out, and went to Will’s side.

His eyes were black, and he mumbled incoherently into the wall.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I placed a hand on his back.

His fingers grazed the wall. “The Divine. She’s so close.”

“Will!” Thane gasped as he made his through the door. My brother came shortly after.

It was as we feared. She had to be doing this to him. But why? What purpose did it serve to make him like this? The queen I knew was different. She wouldn’t. At least, I didn’t want to think She would, but I knew better.

“This shit has got to stop.” Zach’s stone-cold glare washed through me.

Thane rubbed Will’s back and tried to get him to snap out of it, but he didn’t respond.

I grabbed Will by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “Come on.”

We walked him to the pond that now had a little duck family happily bobbing in and out of the water. Will was dead on his feet. His pupils were blown, and only darkness remained in his immovable gaze.

“Take me to Her. Please.”

“Look out at the pond. Smell the air. This is the same air your sister breathed. Remember the rainy winters and think of your house. You told me she got up early and tended to the chickens while you chopped the wood.”

Will’s stories about his life were brief, but those tiny bits of story made up a much bigger one. A brother who loved his little sister more than anything else, and that love was powerful and couldn’t be stopped. In that moment, I had no doubt it was more powerful than the hold She had on him.

He groaned.

“I bet she named them too. Do you remember any of the names? Think really hard. You’re standing in the yard with an axe in your hand, and you hear the laughter of your sister as she corrals the chickens close by. You remember. You think you forgot that laugh or her smile, but you won’t ever forget because it’s so ingrained in you. It’s here.” I patted his chest. “Remember it. Fight for it.”

He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “I can’t. It hurts. I want Her.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it like my brother had done for me many times. “It doesn’t matter. Focus. Remember your sister. The way she used to style her hair and the color of her clothes. The way she sneezed and the things she used to say the most.”

A tear rolled down his cheek, and when he opened his eyes again, they were a little lighter. “She had a chicken named Amelia. She loved that name. It was her favorite one. Fluffy and brown with wild feathers. It survived an animal attack, then she started keeping it in her room.”

“Sounds like something my brothers would do. They’d probably get along.” I smiled.

He finally looked at me, and I wondered if that’s how I looked to everyone else. Worn. His dark circles made every feature frail.

“Thanks.”

“We should go back to the room,” Thane said.

“No, I don’t want to go back in there. I’d rather sit here and have someone tell me about why we have ducks in the pond.”

“It has to be Her. She’s doing this,” Zach spat.

“Maybe I should ask Her about it. I could—”

“No. Not you,” Zach said.

“Why not? She’s the nicest to me.”

“Exactly. Let’s keep it that way,” Zach said while he pushed his shoulders back in solid defiance. “I’ll ask Her.”

“No. None of you bring it up,” Will said.

“Why not?” Thane said.

“Because what purpose would it serve? What could any of you do about it? All it’s going to do is give Her reason to fuck with us more. Leave it alone.”

Zach rolled his eyes. I could practically see his skin steaming in the cold breeze. Thane seemed to agree, and I did too, for now.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get out of here soon.”

“Thane.” Zach’s tone startled me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I think The Legion is coming. I heard Sirius mention talking to someone, and it confirms my theory. They’re using Will and I as bait.” Thane didn’t look at me, just my brother.

I thought about my moment with Cecily, where she’d begged me not to tell. She’d mentioned someone was coming and to not give up. This had to be what she was mentioning.

“ They’ve convinced your brother of their plans ,” She had said.

I turned to Zach. “You knew that was a possibility and didn’t tell me?”

“I was protecting you. Waiting till there was more information and keeping your head clean in case She went searching.”

I nodded and tried to ignore the heat flaring in my blood. He could feel it. The drop in my stomach.

“Don’t be mad. I didn’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“You just keep secrets from me now? You get to decide things and not tell me?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Both of you stop arguing and tell me about these fucking ducks,” Will said.

“I named mine Daisy,” Thane said.

“Of course you did.”

“It’s the one with the feather sticking out of its head. The little one behind the mom.”

Seeing Zach apologize made my chest ache and all the anger run out of me. I didn’t want to be mad at my brother. I understood, but I had to swallow the lump in my throat and ache in my chest to rejoin Will by the water.

I trusted my brother with my life. If he kept secrets from me, it was for good reason. Only, this one confirmed two things I wasn’t happy to accept. He didn’t believe The Legion coming to save us was a real possibility. And two—the worst one—he didn’t think I could handle it.