Chapter 193

I didn’t remember going to sleep. I didn’t remember anything. I heard screaming and the sounds of jeeps. I heard deep sighs and I smelled Candido.

Candido was nearby and that made me relax. I let my mind drift and relax. I fell into a vision of a battle. I saw Candido standing on top of the mountain. Lightning striking bubbling up and overflowing.

Then, I saw Estella rushing up the side of the mountain. She cut through the forest and shifted into a large golden wolf. She was just a bit smaller than Candido. When she reached the top, their eyes took on a brilliant red glow. The moon turned red above the battlefield and the vampires dropped through the cracks as the molten silver filled the cracks. The earth moved like it was liquid, folding in on itself and devouring the vampires and the silver until it seemed completely gone.

Then, the dawn started to come. The clouds pushed back and my heart felt like it was being crushed. They shifted back into their human forms. Then, Candido pulled her into his arms and kissed her as if she was everything he wanted.

I stood and screamed. “No!”

My wail echoed as I ran forward. I tried to run to them, to stop it, to tear them apart, but they drifted away. The ground gave way beneath me and as I fell into darkness, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let this vision come true.

I woke up in the darkness of a cave. My face throbbed with agony, and Candido was mixing something in a small bowl beside me. There was a bandage on his face, and his head was wrapped as well. He had no shirt on, but his chest was wrapped with softly glowing bandages.

His jaw was clenched as he worked, but seeing him there told me that he was finally coming back to his senses.

I smiled up at him. “Candido… I knew you’d come back to me. Can’t we–”

He stopped and looked at her. “Are you going to take Starlight’s medicine or not?”

I glared at him, growing tense even as the pain in my face grew.

“I don’t want anything from that woman, and you shouldn’t either! Can’t you see what she’s doing– Where are you going?”

Candido stood, placing a top on the little bowl he’d been mixing something in and gathering the medical supplies he had in front of him. He packed everything up and exchanged it for a familiar Blue Moon medical kit. All I saw were a few bandages, antiseptic, a needle, and some sutures. He set all the other stuff aside and pulled out some cotton balls.

“Why don’t you just give me your blood?” I asked. “You–”

“Stay still,” he said, dabbing a cotton ball with the antiseptic. I turned away from him, avoiding the cotton ball.

“No,” I said. “Don’t treat me like that. I–”

“I’m not going to give you my blood, Hedy,” he said firmly. “Stay still, or I won’t be treating you and no one else is willing to. You’ll have to do it yourself.”

I glared at him. “I’m your mate. They should be happy to treat me.”

Candido looked at her. “Before or after you’ve said that you don’t care about any of them? Do you really think that telling me to forget everyone and only pay attention to you is the mark of a good queen?”

“What are you saying?” I asked. “Mates are the most important thing in the world. Subjects can be replaced—”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Candido asked, shaking his head. “Are you even thinking?”

“Don’t call me stupid!”

“I’m telling you to think.”

I struggled to sit up and glared at him. “You would have never talked to me like this before!”

“You’ve never given me a reason to,” Candido said. “I thought you were just being naïve and young. I thought that with time you’d grow out of your crush and selfishness and start to learn that being a partner to someone is more than just taking up their time with your whims.”

Tears streamed down my face.

“You used to give me your blood all the time. What’s the problem now?” I narrowed my eyes. “Did Estella tell you not to? You trust her medicine more than you trust your own blood? Don’t you think there’s something wrong with that?”

Candido shook his head. “I gave you my blood because at the time it was the most effective thing to undo the damage caused by all the poison you’d been given.”

“Vampire—”

“Vampire bites do not have poison, don’t even try that,” Candido scoffed. “Even if they did, you are half—”

“No, I’m not!” I shrieked before he could say it.

He sat back. “You haven’t been poisoned. You aren’t that injured. If have one major wound and a bunch of minor ones. Antiseptic and bandages will do if you aren’t going to take Estella’s medicine.”

“I could scar!” I cried. “Don’t you care?”

Candido blinked at me. “Do you care so much about that you’d risk the lives of everyone here?”

“What about me?” I asked. “I–He took so much blood from me.”

Candido eyed me. “Yet you still had the energy to cry for a solid ten minutes, pick a fight enough to get knocked out, and walk with relative ease… I think you’re recovering from that at least well enough.”

I shook my head. “You’re just saying that because you want to go back to Estella.”

Candido growled. “What is your problem?”

“She’s my problem! Ever since she showed up you’ve acted differently! You’re supposed to love me! You’re my mate.”

“That hasn’t been confirmed—”

“You—”

“Because you’re not old enough, Hedy!” Candido shouted over me.

I burst into tears. “You’re yelling at me.”

He let out a soft groan and rubbed at the spot between his eyebrows.

“This isn’t the time,” he said. “To talk about it—”

“Because of Estella?”

“Because this is war and we have more important things to worry about.”

“You said that the Moon Goddess—”

“Hedy,” Candid he cut in. “Are you going to let me treat you or not? If you care so much about scaring, take Estella’s medicine.”

“No!” I screamed. “I don’t want anything from her! don’t want to be treated with anything she’s made! I want to be treated by you.”

He lifted the cotton ball. “Then, stay still.”

I pushed his hand away. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. If you cared about me–”

“Hedy,” Candido said stiffly. “Close your mouth and listen.”

“You can’t talk to me like that!” I yelled. “I’m not just going to be quiet and let you treat me like this.”

He scoffed. “Then don’t. Ten your own injuries.”

He set the Blue Moon medical box beside me and stood. I couldn’t believe he was just leaving me like this. Candido would have never just walked away when I was hurt before.

“Wait!”

He didn’t wait. He walked away across the cave and outside to where everyone else seemed to be.

Why was I over here?

I frowned as I remembered that vampire who had punched me in the face.

“You’re not even going to punish her?” I cried after him. “She punched your mate in the face, and you aren’t going to do anything?”

Candido didn’t even turn back to look at me. I had never felt so alone. Tears rolled down my face, and I kicked the medical kit away from me, curling up on my side. He wasn’t going to get away with treating me like this.

“Fine, don’t care about me. I’ll just waste away!” I cried after him. “I’ll just die since that’s what you want!”

I listened for something, but no one came over. No one even called out to me. I turned over and looked out the cave. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the cave, but I saw them moving. I glared at each of them before getting up and approaching the mouth of the cave. There was a soft shimmering wall there, and I huffed, crossing through the barrier. No one had even heard me.

“You clearly don’t care about me!” I yelled as soon as I was on the other side.

I felt so sturdy, filled with anger. “I’ll just let it get infected! We’ll see how long it will take for you to feel guilty then! You’ll change your mind.”

Someone scoffed nearby. I didn’t turn to see who it was as Candido turned back to look at me.

“Go back in the cave, Hedy,” Candido said.

“No!” I stomped over to him, dodging around the people who were in the way, moving things, or just trying to block my path. “You’re not going to just force into the cave and be silent, and–”

“You!” Francia screeched.