Chapter 219

Soon, all I could hear was the sound of burning wood and the rumbles of engines. When I reached the center of the town, I noticed that people were running around with medical supplies that looked a lot like the stuff Estella had provided for Blue Moon.

I clenched my jaw and stomped through the crowd. There were too many people around to try and dump it all out or even get near enough to figure out something I could do. It was fine. Instead, I went looking for Candido. He kneeled by someone before darting away and through the smoke.

“With me to get the fires put out! We need a patrol and lookouts!”

I wanted to go after him, but I was too dizzy from all the blood I’d lost.

“Hey,” Mary said, leaning on her rifle. It made me think of Estella and only pissed me off more. “Let’s take a look at your shoulder, hm?”

She turned back and called out for someone. Several people looked at me, but none of them came over. Harper walked right past me.

The other truck rattled towards the center as Mary got a box of regular medical supplies and pulled me to sit down so she could tend my shoulder. It hurt a lot, but worse than the throbbing pain was the dizziness and the nausea.

“It was a silver bullet,” she said. “You’ll need an antidote.”

But that shouldn’t matter. I shouldn’t have been affected by silver at all. I hadn’t been in the cave. She rummaged through the box and frowned.

“We’re out… I guess it makes sense with all the bullets flying around.” She sighed. “The bullet went straight through, but it should be okay in a while. You’ve probably bled most of it out. After a good night’s rest, you should be feeling better.”

“Have you seen Candido?”

She smiled. “If he’s really your fiancé, I’m sure he’ll come find you. We’re headed to bed down in the unharmed buildings on the west side of town. Will you be alright---”

“Mary!”

She looked up and lifted her arm as Jake came rushing over. He swept her up in a hug.

“I’m fine, you big baby.” She pet his hair.

“I can’t lose you too,” he whispered to her and kissed her temple. “I can’t.”

Mary chuckled. “You’re bleeding, you big oaf. Sit down and let me get you patched up.”

He released her and sank onto the ground beside me. He glanced at me and shook his head. “Don’t go picking up guns if you can’t even hold it.”

“Jake, now is not the time—”

“If you had been killed because she couldn’t fire properly, I would have killed her,” Jake said.

They said nothing for a few moments.

“Mom wouldn’t want you contemplating murder.”

His lips twitched as he shuffled off his shirt, revealing the bleeding wound in his side. “Mom would agree. You were always the favorite.”

I looked away from them, scanning the crowd. People hugged. Some couples kissed. It irritated me. Candido should be at my side, worried about me, but he was nowhere to be seen. When I thought I caught a glimpse of him, he disappeared again.

Soon, we were headed toward the West side of town and filing into the buildings that weren’t damaged. I wasn’t sure if they used to be hotels or just old houses. I hadn’t cared much about Wolf Fang when I was there. To be fair, they didn’t seem to care much about me either.

No one had even recognized me.

“Luna!” I heard someone cry. There was a gasp of horror and I walked towards the sound. Bella was nowhere to be found, but Lilian was there, slumped against the wall. An empty vial at her side. Her veins were turning black as she stared out the window. Tears sliding down her face.

I walked towards her and looked down at her. I didn’t know if she noticed I was there, but for the first time, I felt powerful in her presence. I felt in control. This woman couldn’t hurt me anymore. With her death, there would be nothing left to tie me to the past life I had lived before Candido.

“Interesting that Bella’s gone,” I said. “That she didn’t stay with you until the end.”

Lilian’s eyes drifted toward me. There was no recognition. She didn’t even speak.

“You can’t talk to her like that,” someone said. “Even though she’s dying, she’s till our luna…”

“To me, she’s nothing more than an evil stepmother,” I said and crouched beside her so I could look into her eyes. “I want you to know that I don’t forgive you. That I don’t forgive him or Bella either for everything you’ve done. After today, I will never think of you again because I’ll have Candido for the rest of my life, and he’s all I need.”

Lilian’s lips twitched, and a soft red glow filled her eyes. I grew stiff.

“No matter what you believe,” Lilian said softly. “The Goddess always gets what she wants.”

I stood and walked away. I headed down the hall, listening to the sounds of her dying as Candido hurried down the hall. He stopped and looked toward the door as I heard someone cry out. Candido grimaced and dropped his gaze. I smiled at him.

“You came for me.”

Candido blinked.

“But I’m not sad,” I said. “Having them be gone is the best thing I could ever hope for.”

Candido blinked at me, then lifted his head. “Are you here to help?”

“I’m always here for you, Candido.”

He turned. His hand flexing at his side before he looked at me. “We searching your old house.”

“For what?”

“Something that may have once belonged to your mother.”

I followed Candido through the town, searching for something to say. Now that he wasn’t actively avoiding me, I thought we’d go back to the way we were, but he wasn’t talking to me. It wasn’t until we got to the house that I thought to say anything. I looked up at it and realized that I had never really looked at the house before.

The closer I got, the less I felt about it. Wherever Bella was, she wasn’t ever going to bully me again. Lilian would never poison me again. Steven would never turn a blind eye to everything that was happening either.

I looked at Candido’s back as he opened the door and walked inside. I heard movement inside and Cillian leaned out of the foyer. He glanced at my shoulder, then down to my legs, and his lips quirked.

“Glad you managed to find someone to give you some pants,” Cillian said. “Nothing in this room. I’m heading upstairs.”

“Where’s Peter?” I asked.

“Reporting to His Majesty,” Cillian said. Candido headed further down the hallway. “I’ll head upstairs as well.”

“I’ll go too,” I said following him up the stairs. I went upstairs with him and Cillian, but Candido walked down the hall before I could suggest we search the rooms together. Cillian opened a door and I set my jaw.

I turned down the hall and went after Candido, but Cillian called after me.

“If you wanted any one to believe that you were actually here to help, you might have asked what you were looking for,” Cillian chuckled. “Though, I’d appreciate it more if you just sat down and stayed out of the way.”

I set my jaw. “I am here to help. You’re looking for a relic.”

“Do you even know what it looks like?” Cillian asked.

I set my jaw. “Old.”

He snorted. “Just stay out of the way.”

Candido came out of the room he’d entered and crossed the hall. I heard rummaging in both room before I got up and went into the room that Candido had gone in. He walked hard on the floor, stopping every few steps.

“What are you looking for?”

Candido didn’t answer. A floorboard popped up under his feet. He kneeled and put it aside. I drew closer, hoping that the Heart of the Moon was inside, but all that was there were a few books. He opened one of them and closed it soon after.

“What is it?” I asked. “Is there something useful in it?”

He offered it to me, and I set my jaw.

“Why won’t you just answer me?”

“If you aren’t going to help, Hedy, please just go wait outside.”

“I am here to help.”

“Then, start searching.”

He set the journal aside and kept pulling things out of the hole. I turned away from him, setting my jaw.

“Aren’t you looking forward to our future together?” I asked going to a drawer and opening it. “I know that I’m young, but I’m smart. You know that I’m smart… I’ve been helping run Moon Shadow all this time. I rallied Wolf Fang, I—”

“You’re Steven’s eldest child and Hedwig’s only child,” Candido said.

Finally, he was talking to me.