Chapter 225
Raven and Cillian went off to the side to speak, and as much as I wanted to know what they were saying, especially if it was about Estella or the Heart of the Moon, I couldn’t hear anything they were saying.
“Do you know what they’re saying?” I asked.
“It’s private,” Candido said. I looked up at him.
“Private?” I asked.
“Vampire business.”
Cillian cupped Raven’s face and kissed her forehead before pulling her in for one last hug. Then, Raven floated into the air. I swear I heard her sniffle before she vanished into the air.
Cillian sighed and turned back.
“Are we leaving now?” Cillian asked. “And no, I’m not going to tell you what we talked about. It’s vampire business.”
“That sounds even more suspicious than when Candido said it.”
His lips twitched, and he looked at Candido. “You know, I take most of what I thought back about you.”
Candido’s lips twitched. “Likewise.”
He turned and opened his mirror. “We’ve missed the clear window for the path through the forest. Our best bet are the caves under the ruins of the old estate now.”
Cillian hummed. “Hate to admit it, but you’re right… No
I frowned. “Why are they an option now when they weren’t before? The caves?”
Cillian chuckled and walked ahead of us.
“Because they are now,” he said simply.
I grabbed his arm. “You keep saying that, but you’re not giving me any explanation.”
Candido looked at me. “Are you staying by my side no matter what I do or don’t tell you?”
“Of course.”
“Then, what does it matter?” Candido asked and pulled away from me. “We’re going this way.”
My jaw trembled, but I followed, holding back what I wanted to say so it wouldn’t come out as screaming. Was he trying to tell me something? Was he trying to teach me something? Candido wouldn’t have ever been so cryptic before. He would at least give me something to go on.
Was it because he wasn’t thinking of me as Pandora anymore that he wasn’t telling me anything? We walked for a long time in quiet. Candido kept watch, and the further we walked, the longer I got a chance to look at him.
The more I started to notice that there was something off.
I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but there was something off about him, about the forest around us. I didn’t know where the old Estate was exactly, but I knew it was pretty far.
“Why isn’t the forest moving?” I asked.
“A lot of reasons,” Cillian said. “Chiefly because it doesn’t need to. We’re not in a rush.”
“I thought we were trying to find the artifact before they did. How are we not in a rush?”
“There are other teams searching for it in other places,” Cillian said.
I thought of Peter then and walked faster to catch up with Candido.
“Candido, can we talk?” I asked.
“About what?” Candido asked as we walked.
“About… us.”
Cillian snickered behind me.
“I don’t have anything to say to you about it,” Candido said. “You’re welcome to talk as much as you want.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to talk about it? The war will be over soon, and then we’ll have to start thinking about our wedding, the future….”
Candido stopped and looked down at me. “What makes you think the war will be over soon.”
His eyes were searching mine. It was the first time in a long time. He was looking at me.
“Because I believe in you.”
His eyes narrowed, and he lowered his face. His eyes narrowed a bit. He got so close I thought he was going to kiss me. My heart raced, I leaned closer, lifting my face, but he pulled back at the last minute.
“I can only assume you were shown something,” he said. “And I can guess what it was. Granted visions tend to have two purposes: a warning and an answer.”
I frowned. Disappointment filled me as he kept walking.
“Are you saying you get visions?”
“Often,” he said. “Cillian?”
“All the time.”
“I had a vision of our wedding,” I said, thinking back to the daydream that had seemed so vivid. “I was in this beautiful dress… There were flowers everywhere. We were at this temple.”
Cillian snickered again as Candido kept walking.
“How do you know it was a vision?”
I frowned. “Well, of course, it was. We’re mates. We’re going to get married.”
I crossed my arms. “Unless you’re saying that you’d let your mate marry another man.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” I smiled, glad that he was finally acknowledging it. “That has nothing to do with your blood oath with Cillian.”
“Y-You wouldn’t fight for me?” I asked.
He stopped again and looked at me. “Was that your plan?”
I blinked at him. “Well, I… I mean, if that was what he wanted, you can’t just say that you’d just let it happen.”
Candido turned back to look at Cillian. “I’m not fighting you.”
My jaw dropped, and I looked back at Cillian. He was grinning.
“Oh, I know. The Goddess has been pretty clear about how this will all shake out. You can rest assured I will spend the rest of my eternity laughing about it whenever I’m feeling in the mood for it.”
I smiled and looked back at Candido, but he had already started walking ahead of us. Cillian glanced at me with a little laugh, and we continued on.
Thunder clouds rolled overhead as Candido led us toward a cave. This cave didn’t seem like the ones that were more like portals. As the rain began to fall, we sat down.
My feet ached from walking so much, and I was so tired.
“I’ll take the first watch,” Cillian said. “I hear wolves need a lot of sleep. Here.”
He tossed a vial to Candido.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Special formula,” Cillian said as Candido opened it. “From Estella.”
My eyes bulged. Candido’s eyes grew misty as he looked down at the bottle. He drank it without hesitation and lay down with a soft groan.
“Why is it so strong?”
“Because you golden-haired troublemakers are terrible at sleeping when you should.”
“Candido—”
His breathing turned soft as he went to sleep. I looked at Cillian.
“What did you give him? All of her medicines are tainted, you know?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Interesting you would say that. I suppose you’ve stopped worrying about scarring then.”
I looked over at Candido. “She poisoned everyone against me.”
Cillian leaned back against the opening of the cave. “You keep telling yourself whatever it takes to sleep easy.”
I huffed and turned over, curling up beside Candido. He was turned away from me, but just having his body heat near was nice. As I slipped into sleep, I realized that this was the perfect time to share dreams with him again. I waited, trying to reach for his mind, but I felt nothing. All too soon, I was awake again. Candido was still asleep beside me, and Cillian was still staring out the mouth of the cave.
I set my jaw and shook Candido. He pulled away from me, but I kept shaking him. Then, something shocked me and shoved me away from him. I yelped, cradling my hand to my chest as I felt something warm trickling down my hand.
Cillian hummed. “Don’t you know you shouldn’t wake someone when they’re communing?”
“What does that even mean?”
Cillian sighed. “I don’t understand how you lived with the Goddess’ literal gold child for years and know nothing about him or the Goddess.”
He slipped from his place on the rock and went to Candido. He leaned over him and hummed.
“A few more minutes,” he said.
He walked over to me and dropped a roll of bandages on my lap.
“Wrap it tight, or we’ll be swarmed the second we leave his cave.”
I crossed my arms as Candido sat up stiffly. A wash of moonlight swept over him, and he let out a soft sigh as he slumped forward. He shook his head before turning to look out the cave. Then, he stood and looked at me.
“Wrap your hand, quickly—”
“Why did you keep me out?” I asked.
Candido frowned briefly. Then, he turned toward the mouth of the cave. “It’s too close.”
Cillian hummed. “A big one too.”
I felt the ground shake as a giant mass of shadow seemed to move from further into the cave.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” Candido asked. “It’s too close to run.”
He grabbed his gun, and Cillian put his hand on it, pressing on it until Candido lowered the gun.
“A bit tight for a gunfight,” Cillian said. “And any decent person knows not to wake someone while communing.”
“I don’t have a blade on me.”
Cillian chuckled. “Rather than fighting it, why don’t you try calming it?”
