Chapter 228
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’s… like they’re alive,” I said and approached the painting. Hedwig didn’t look at me. She’d returned to her original position in the portrait.
Candido turned to me and he gasped. I looked at him wondering what was wrong. He looked between me and Hedwig with wide eyes.
“What is it?”
He frowned, then he shook his head and turned away. “Nothing, I suppose.”
“How is it doing that?” I asked.
“It’s… enchanted,” he said. “A long time ago… a few years after the fire, I found this entrance… They used to talk, but the magic in it has faded so much that they only interact when….” He paused and removed his hand. “Well, it doesn’t matter now.”
“Tell me,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.
He said nothing for a moment. “When people who meet the criteria are nearby.”
“What are the criteria?”
“I used to think it was being an awakened werewolf,” he said. “But I think Hedwig is enchanted, mostly, to interact with vampires….”
As he stepped away, Candida’s eyes followed him. She didn’t seem to register me.
“It seems like all this time I’ve said that I’m not a vampire has made a difference, but I guess the magic is practically all gone if Candida can’t interact with me.”
Candido turned toward the exit as the rain started to pour down outside.
“Will you tell me what the estate was like before?” I asked. “Why’d you come back here after the fire?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Please?” I asked, looking at him. “I’m… curious. Is the new estate anything like the old one?”
Candido looked at me, then behind me at the painting before sighing.
“No,” he said. “I made sure that… the new estate didn’t look anything like this one did.”
“Why?”
His lips twitched. “I didn’t want the memories.”
He turned and placed his hand on the burned doorway. “The Full Moon Pack deserved a fresh start, so I had it completely redesigned.”
He sighed. “It was… enough while it lasted.”
“Tell me what it was like,” I said. “There aren’t even pictures of it anymore, but I heard it was beautiful… Was there really a ballroom?”
His lips twitched. His eyes softened, and for a few moments, it seemed like he was the Candido I knew from before the war.
“Most of it is still standing if you want to see it.”
I nodded and tried to reach for him to take his arm, but he turned away from me too quickly and walked down the hallway. I took a deep breath, trying to keep down my frustration as I followed him. He was taking longer than I wanted to come around, but it was happening. I just had to be patient. Things would be the way they were before.
I still had to get rid of the last five members of Blue Moon. I didn’t have a plan on how to do that yet, but I would figure it out.
We walked through the burnt-out hallways. Occasionally, I’d see a piece of the structure that hadn’t been completely ruined by the fire.
Then, we reached a large open area. I could hear the rain pouring in from the open ceiling. The ground sparkled with broken glass.
“The whole ceiling was glass,” he said. “Like a greenhouse. The floors used to gleam after they cleaned them… My father would hold inter-pack events here. Balls, birthdays…”
I looked up at him.
“Sounds like a lot of fun,” I said. “We should put a ballroom in the new estate when it’s rebuilt.”
“I didn’t put a ballroom in the estate for a reason,” he said.
“Well, we could make new memories,” I said. “We could get married on the estate instead of the temple.”
He said nothing.
“Or we could have the reception at the estate. It would be better than having a venue to celebrate the end of the war….” I licked my lips. “I wanted to show you the vision I had, but you kept me out last night.”
“I didn’t.”
I crossed my arms. “After all the times you’ve accused me of lying, now you’re lying to hurt me on purpose.”
“I didn’t feel anything,” Candido said. “I was communing.”
I rolled my eyes. “Communing? Really? You could just say that potion kept us from connecting. It would hurt less.”
“That potion put me to sleep deep enough for me to actually rest, and you’ve never believed, so I don’t expect you to understand.”
“You sound like you don’t care if I do.”
“I don’t,” he said. “Your faith is entirely your business.”
I looked up at him. “You used to try to teach me.”
“You were a child then, my ward. It was my duty to at least expose you to it. You never showed any interest, and I never pushed you to.” He took a deep breath. “Though I find it interesting how you don’t believe in the Goddess, but you believe in mates.”
He chuckled. “I suppose everyone has their own brand of faith.”
“I can’t believe that Communing would interfere with mates sharing dreams.”
He sighed again. “I believe receiving a vision from the Goddess, especially now, to be more important than anything.”
I stared at him, unable to speak. I was so offended. How could a vision be more important than me? Than our relationship? Our future?
Unless… he saw the same vision I had seen. Maybe it had been a vision about how the war would end. Maybe he’d seen the same vision I had.
“What was your vision about?”
“If the Goddess wanted you to know, you’d have been granted the vision, too,” he took a deep breath. “And for your information, it’s generally considered blasphemous to share visions or attempt to thwart them.”
I crossed my arms. “If the Goddess didn’t want us to try and change things, then why show it to us?”
“Granted visions are either a warning or an answer,” he said. I flinched. I hated it the first time I heard it, and I hated it even more now. “It’s a matter of wisdom to know which vision is which and to listen when she tries to guide you off a bad path.”
“How am I supposed to believe that you were Communing and not keeping me out if you won’t tell me what the vision was?”
He looked at me. “You claim to believe in me, yet you cannot believe me?”
My face heated. “You don’t believe me either.”
“You have given me every reason not to,” he said. “When have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?”
My eyes burned. “You promised to protect me, and you haven’t.”
Candido blinked at her. “Is that honestly what you think?”
“What else am I supposed to think?”
He let out a deep breath. “If you really feel that way, why are you here?”
“We’re mates.”
He shook his head. “You’d want a mate you think hasn’t tried to protect you?”
“I want you,” I said.
“That didn’t answer my question.”
I crossed my arms. “You said that trying to be apart from your mate would drive you crazy, and now you’re basically pushing me to be away from you.”
He opened his mouth and then shut it. He lifted his head. His expression was full of frustration.
“Hedy,” he said. “If I asked you to go back with Ian and Cillian to Lunae until the war was over, for your safety… to protect you, would you go?”
“No.”
Candido’s lips twitched. He looked like he wanted to argue, then he turned from me.
“Okay.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means that I can’t force you,” Candido said. “If you were still my ward, I’d probably tie you up and toss you onto the first truck heading to Lunae, but you’re not. And there’s no point in pretending that anything can be the way it was.”
His pocket chimed, and he opened the mirror.
“It’s time.”
