Inside I find the bed empty and made, though Ruben’s bag is still on the floor, so it’s safe to assume he hasn’t left yet.
‘I thought I heard you come back. Ruben’s downstairs.’
The voice causes me to spin around on the spot.
‘William? You’re still here?’
Maybe it’s the dark of evening, but I swear my brother has never looked more like our father. There’s something about the way he’s standing and the cut of the expression across his face that make him the spitting image of a younger version of our sire.
As I continue to stare, his expression drops slightly. ‘That’s okay, isn’t it?’
‘Always, yes,’ I tell him.
‘Yes?’ His smile is so nervous it makes my heart hurt, and I hatewhen the sound of Kay’s laughter causes it to fade into a frown. ‘I know you’re mad at Jonas,’ he says. ‘I am too. But I think he really did hide it from you to keep me safe.’
‘I know,’ I admit. ‘And I’m glad you’ve had somebody there to look out for you like that. Truly, I am.’
‘Me too,’ William replies. A pause threatens to claim the conversation, but before it can, he speaks again. ‘Have you decided what you’re going to do. About, you know … our mother?’
‘I think so,’ I say. ‘But I want to do something else first. And for that, I need your permission.’
A blood vow.
Even as I look at the words on the page in front of me, I debate what I am about to ask my friends to do. There are no details beyond what is required for the spell. No explanation as to what will happen if it is broken, though I can assume that whatever it is, it won’t be good. Death, either instant or excruciating, would be my assumption.
Summer is fetching Caz from the High Hold library for me, while Benny and Ruben wait in the drawing room for me to come and explain exactly why I’ve summoned them there. The rest of us are in the kitchen, the hub of the home.
‘It’s the only way,’ Jonas says as he, Kay, William, and I sit around the table. We’re family now. All of us, by blood or marriage. And it’s more than I thought I’d ever have again, that’s for sure. ‘I wish I’d thought of it with you both, if I’m honest.’
‘Really?’ I give him my most withering look, only to shake my head and sigh. He was just protecting William, that was all, just the same way I want to do now.
‘I don’t see why you need to tell them anything at all,’ Kay says. ‘If it’s that much of a risk, why not just keep it secret? Why suggest a vow?’
It’s a valid question, but one I can’t answer without telling her what I have planned next, and that’s not something I plan on doing right now. So instead, I offer her a different truth.
‘I would not be alive without these people, Kay,’ I tell her. ‘I owethem my life. Ruben, too, for the gift he gave me. Not to mention they are all smart as hell. Whatever happens next, having them here to help plan can only be a good thing.’
‘And you’re sure that this blood vow will work?’ William asks, worry etched on his face.
‘Not a hundred percent, but confident enough. Still, it’s your call. It’s your secret, as much as it is mine.’
‘I trust you,’ he says slowly. ‘And you trust them.’
‘Trusts them so much she needs to make them do a blood vow,’ Kay mutters beside me, but I ignore her.
A silence starts to settle when there’s a knock at the door.
‘M’lady, I have shown your guest to the drawing room with the others,’ Summer says as she steps inside the room.
I push back my chair and stand. ‘Thank you. You have the evening off. Please stay away from the house for a few hours.’
She drops me a curtsy. If she finds my order curious, her face does not show it.
I wait until she’s gone before turning to the others. ‘I’ll give them the chance to leave first. They may not choose to take the vow. Either way, I’ll fetch you when it’s done.’
My hand is trembling as I weave my way down the hallway to the corridor. I’ve barely said two words to Ruben since he woke up, and at some point I will need to see how he is doing, but this is not that moment.
Inside the room, the three are chatting – presumably Benny has already made introductions between Caz and Ruben – and seeing them together like this causes my throat to go dry.
