I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Candido narrowed his eyes suspiciously.“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “That’s not a power that werewolves have.”“Most? No,” Cillian said. “Estella is more than just my chief medical officer. She’s the reason we rarely had to waste time fighting creatures on the fringes of Lunae.”Candido’s eyes widened, his shoulders relaxed, and the suspect left his face.“What do you mean?” Candido asked.I clenched my jaw. I wanted to call Cillian out on the lie, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t chance Candido telling him that Estella was dead. It was obvious that he thought Estella was still alive. Sure, he wasn’t being as nice to me as he had been before. I still needed him.He was the only person around that I could use to make Candido jealous.“His Majesty asked me to help you figure out your powers the way I helped Estella figure out hers… You’re a golden wolf, a solare. If the war is to end quickly and the way it needs to, you can’t afford to continue to be ig
My jaw dropped as Cillian stood and rolled his shoulder.“But I just sat down!” I said. “I haven’t even—"He looked at me. “Are you turning back?”I set my jaw and stood. “No! Stop asking that.”“I’m going to ask it every time you complain about the pace,” Candido said. “Consider it a part of all that training you missed.”I growled. “That’s not fair.”“Life isn’t fair,” Candido said. “And I’m just now realizing how much I’ve sheltered you from that. Let’s go.”He turned without another word and headed off. I looked at Cillian, who chuckled and shrugged.“This is why you shouldn’t invite yourself along.”He broke into a jog after Candido. My legs were so tired that I could barely stumble in the same direction. This time, Candido had vanished through the trees. Cillian remained closer, but as I started to slow down again, I lost sight of him.I stumbled to a stop at the edge of a grassy area. I couldn’t move another step. I didn’t even care where Candido was. I didn’t care where Cillia
The Hedwig and Candida in the painting shifted in their seats, and they both looked down at Cillian and Candido with such warm expressions that it made my heart hurt. Cillian reached up, and Hedwig reached out to him, pressing her hand to where he’d pressed his. “Stubborn woman,” he whispered. Then, the painting began to move aside. Hedwig withdrew her hand as it slid aside and revealed a large, dark, stone doorway. It was just like the doorway that had once been in the Wolf Fang house.The women’s eyes followed Candido and Cillian, but neither of them looked at me. When it stopped moving, the gust of cool, damp air filled the space. Cillian turned back. “Don’t enter the cave before I call. Let’s not test our luck, hm?”Candido nodded. Cillian stepped inside and vanished into the darkness. Candido took a deep breath and looked up at the image of Candida as she looked down at him. He placed a hand against the painting and Candida reached out to place her hand where his was. “It’
We walked back to the stone doorway in silence. I honestly didn’t know what else I could say, but the thought of going back to the safe camp or Lunae made me depressed. When surrounded by all those people, there was no way I could get him to stay with me long enough to get him to come around.Of course, I was a bit upset that he didn’t seem excited about having the reception in the ballroom of the new estate. Just having one would be great. We really could have our whole ceremony there. I could see it now.We walked through the darkness until the air turned dryer, and we came out into the forest. I almost groaned at the thought of walking anymore, but then I heard voices nearby.Then, I saw Peter loading something onto a truck that I didn’t recognize. He’d lost his cloak and was dressed in a tank top and jeans. He was a bit sweaty, like he’d been working for hours.My eyes skimmed over the gleaming sweat on his arms before I turned away as Candido
I growled at him. “That’s not an excuse. Apologize to me!”She scoffed. “I didn’t even hit you. He did.”I turned and looked up to see Harper looking down at me with a smug smile.“You expect me to apologize to you?” He asked, tilting his head. “Go on. Say it.”I grit my teeth. “Apologize to me, or I’m going to tell Candido.”His smile turned cold. “Apologize to Estella first.”Then, he turned and left. The woman chuckled.“You’re really not very popular, are you?” She wrapped up the cot, and I looked around. The rest of everyone who had set up cots was taking them down. I looked down and found that the pieces of the cot I’d had were gone. I rubbed my head and got to my feet to search for Candido. Harper wasn’t going to get away with this. Candido would have to punish him.I saw Harper standing with Candido. I don’t know what they were saying, but it didn’t matter. I marched over, pushing my way through the cots, ready to tell Candido
Marius started laughing as soon as he hung up. My stomach filled with fear as he smiled down at me. He looked crazy, I thought. Though his eyes were clear, there was a wild excitement on his face.“If it makes you feel any better,” he said. “I could care less about you either.”He shook his head. “No, that’s not quite right. I care even less about you.”I swallowed. “Candido will find me, and he’ll kill you. He’ll kill you both.”He hummed, and the cage opened. “Wish deeply that he’ll take great care in burying your corpse… What’s left of it anyway. And I doubt highly that your little pet could manage to kill Ian.”He laughed as I felt something grabbing me and dragging me out of the cage. “Though if he manages it, I supposed he’s more useful than I thought, and I may even have to keep him alive.”I dug my fingers into the dirt, trying to resist the pull, but the force was too strong. Marius whistled and moved around as it dragged me slowly out of the cage. I
“G-Grandfather?” I asked horrified.“Yes,” Marius said, his voice turned soft as he looked down at the man. “My dearest… dumbest brother, the vampire king himself. Lucien, the Bloody.”He laughed. “He always hated when I called him that… There couldn’t have been a gentler soul in the world…”I swallowed. “What does that mean?”He leaned on the casket. “Lucien wanted peace… He sought to follow the Goddess’ will and ensure that you filthy wolves lived prosperous lives on the other side of the divide… Allowing Solare to feedoff of the magic and wonder of Lunae…”He tilted his head. “But his benevolence was his undoing. You wolves grew greedy.”“That’s not true! It’s— ““What would you know?” He asked, blinking at me. “You’re barel
Ian shoved him back. Marius skidded and almost tripped, but he blocked Ian I lost their movements as they fought, around the pools of blood. The glow never left Ian, but it was clear that Marius was holding him off. Raven turned to me, glaring at me with burning red eyes.Had it been her eyes looking at me from within the mosaic?She came to me and aimed her staff at me. Her hands trembled for a moment before she scoffed and cast a bunch of light over me. The restraints vanished, and I collapsed to the ground. I felt dizzy and a bit ill from all the silver around the room. I felt so weak.“Get up,” Raven hissed, grabbing my arm.“Be gentle!”“Shut up, or I’ll throw you in the trough, I’m not in a fucking mood to hear Uncle Ian’s lecture.”She dragged me across the ground. The silver burned my skin. I knew I was bleeding, but she didn’t care. Finally, she threw me onto the hard rocky ground. I skidded and I was sure that I was bleeding even more, but at least