Chapter 178

The bloodlust took over. I was going to kill her if I could. She wouldn’t take Candido from me. I felt maybe a little faster, a little stronger. I thought I would finally strike her, but before I realized it, she had moved, darting forward and slamming her fist into my face. It felt hard and unyielding. My jaw cracked. I felt a sharp pain in my nose, then I crashed to the ground. Before I could get up, she was on me, wrenching my arms behind my back and binding me.

“Let me go!” I screamed. “Let me go, you evil bitch!”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been called a bitch by someone I did nothing to.” She sighed and plopped down a few feet away. I saw her pulling something off her hand: metal knuckles. My face swelled and I felt blood dripping down my nose.

“Are you going to tell me who you are and why you’re so upset with me in particular? Or are you like this to everyone who keeps you from drowning.”

“Go to hell!” I cried, tears spilling down my cheeks. “You know who I am! You know what you did! He’s my mate! I’m not going to let you take him from me!”

She squinted and sighed. “Oh… that’s who you are.”

“Estella?” Candido called coming down the side of the hill she was seated on. “What’s going on?”

“I—”

“She attacked me!” I cried, wiggling on the ground. “She cut me and punched me and tied me up!”

Estella let out a long put upon sigh as Candido looked at me. She stood and pulled out a pipe. She stuffed it, lit it with a flick of her finger and took a deep drag before blowing the smoke into the air.

“’Dido,” Estella said, shaking her head.

“Don’t call him that! Look at what she did to me, Candido!”

Estella turned and looked up at him. “You deal with her. I don’t have time for this, and I’m not going to make time. Tell her to stay out of the lake unless she wants to be eaten.”

“The lake?” Candido asked and looked over at the lake. “What… How…”

“I don’t know, ask her,” Estella said. “For reference, I did cut, punch, and tie her up. However, that was after I pulled her out of the lake, tried to treat that twitch she’s got, and she attacked me.”

I sobbed and kicked. “She’s lying! Untie me! Candido, help!”

She scoffed. “I love you, ‘Dido, really. You know I do, and you’re always welcome to come by, but I didn’t sign up for this.”

“I’m sorry, Estella,” Candido said. “I really am. I… I’ll handle it.”

“Good. I’m not treating her, though. You’ll have to find someone else, and if you bloodlet for her, it’ll be a waste of time: wolfsbane and silver, so don’t.”

She snapped her finger. The binds released. I scrambled to Candido, clinging to him and sobbing against his chest. He didn’t even wrap his arms around me.

“Hedy, how did you get into the lake?”

“Why is that important? She attacked me. Shouldn’t you be caring more about that?”

Estella took another drag. “I can see why Uncle Wren has a few problems with her.”

I glared at her.

“Does she make a habit of lying like this? Impressive tear work. Do you fall for this?”

“I—”

“Really?” Estella cocked an eyebrow at him. “I expected better of you, ‘Dido. I mean, you didn’t fall for Sibyl’s bullshit. How could you possibly fall for her little sister’s antics? It’s all the same tactics?”

I lunged at her, but Candido stopped me. “I’m not related to Sibly, you bitch!”

She glanced at me, not looking convinced or concerned about the threat I posed.

“So glad you’ve dropped the act,” Estella said. “You’ve got all the makings to be Sibyl’s little sister… I guess you’re prettier, but ‘Dido’s never been in shortage of pretty women around him.”

She didn’t even seem bothered as she kept smoking, eyeing me briefly before returning her gaze to Candido. I pushed at Candido’s arms, furious. I’d rip her face off. I’d kill her. She wouldn’t take him from me.

“Look, this is all ridiculous,” she said. “You’ve clearly got a lot more on your hands than the war.”

She looked at me pointedly and then looked back at Candido. “I think we agree that this is ridiculous?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s ridiculous that I would have to deal with this?”

“Yes,” he said, sounding almost pained.

“Good.” She took another drag. “I’m hungry, and tired, and I’d really like to get some of that Blood Moon stew. You should probably get the leeches off her before she passes out and come join the festivities when you can.”

With that she turned and walked away. I sneered after her. There weren’t any leeches on me. I was perfectly fine except for the cut on my arm. I burst into tears looking back at Candido.

“Why won’t you hold me? Why aren’t you comforting me?”

“Hold still,” Candido said.

“No! You’re supposed to—” He grabbed my jaw firmly but gently and turned my head. I tried to struggle then I felt a sharp, pulling pain in my neck. He sighed.

“How long were you in the lake?”

“Why are you asking that?” I asked. “Why would that even matter? She attacked me!”

He said nothing and went to look for a rock and some twigs. He started a small fire before sitting on the hill. He pulled a small dagger from a holster I hadn’t even seen. When had he gotten it? Had Estella given it to him? I wanted to throw it into the lake.

“Come here and turn around.”

“No! Not until you answer me!” I said, stomping my foot. “You’re not—”

“Hedy,” Candido said calmly. “Either you turn around, and I get the leeches off of you now, or you pass out, and I get them off you then.”

“There aren’t leeches on me! She just said that--”

He pointed to my leg. I didn’t want to look, but the longer I didn’t, the more acutely I felt… something. I looked down and gasped at the glowing, ugly thing attached to my leg just below the hem of the dress I was wearing. I screamed and tried to bat it off, but it wouldn’t budge and every push just made my flesh pull tight.

“Get it off! Get it off!” Candido grabbed my arm and yanked me down to sit in front of him.

He pulled his dagger out of the fire. “Don’t move.”

I trembled, but I didn’t. I felt the heat of the dagger drifting closer to my neck. I felt something move then a horrible squealing sound as something rolled down my back ad fell on the ground. I didn’t look.

“What happened to your hair?” Candido asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, reaching for it.

“Don’t move,” he said again. You’ll feed them more.”

I went still as he tugged the collar of my dress away from my neck and sighed.

“You’re going to have to take this off.”

My face heated. This isn’t how I wanted to be mostly naked with Candido, especially not outside, but…. But maybe If he saw me naked, maybe he’d be turned on enough that we could go back to the way we were, with him barely holding back his passion for me and me doing everything I could do to make him want me so much that he gave in. I hesitated, but eventually, I lifted up a little and let him help me out of the dress. I expected a gasp, some sense of his interest, but he didn’t let his hand skim over my skin. He didn’t even shift closer. Meanwhile, I could feel him so acutely that it was hard to sit still.

He burned leech after leech off my back then made me stand to get them off the back of my legs.

“Turn around.”

I did so, looking down at him, embarrassed and wondering why Raven hadn’t given me cuter underwear than the plain ones that had been in the room. That would have helped. I could have at least had a cuter bra. Candido didn’t look up at my face, my chest. He didn’t even seem to notice that I was naked as he applied the heated blade to the ones on my stomach and my legs. I looked down and grimaced at the ugly circular wounds that covered my body.

He sighed as the last one fell off. He shifted to one side and pulled out something from his pocket it seemed. It looked like a little medical kit.

“Where did you get that?” I asked as he opened it.

“Estella gave it to me—What the hell, Hedy?”

I swatted it out of his hands, sending it tumbling away from us and down the hill. He looked up at me.

“I don’t want to be treated with anything from her. I want you to treat me…”

I sank down and tried to crawl into his lap. He pushed me off. “Stop it, Hedy.”

“Your blood would heal me faster.”

“You clearly weren’t listening,” he said and stood to gather the supplies. He picked it all up and before I could yell at him about it he asked, “While we’re on the subject, why did you lie about Estella attacking you?”