Chapter 230

I growled at him. “That’s not an excuse. Apologize to me!”

She scoffed. “I didn’t even hit you. He did.”

I turned and looked up to see Harper looking down at me with a smug smile.

“You expect me to apologize to you?” He asked, tilting his head. “Go on. Say it.”

I grit my teeth. “Apologize to me, or I’m going to tell Candido.”

His smile turned cold. “Apologize to Estella first.”

Then, he turned and left. The woman chuckled.

“You’re really not very popular, are you?” She wrapped up the cot, and I looked around. The rest of everyone who had set up cots was taking them down. I looked down and found that the pieces of the cot I’d had were gone. I rubbed my head and got to my feet to search for Candido. Harper wasn’t going to get away with this. Candido would have to punish him.

I saw Harper standing with Candido. I don’t know what they were saying, but it didn’t matter. I marched over, pushing my way through the cots, ready to tell Candido everything.

“Watch it!” Someone yelled at me as I shoved past them.

Then, someone shoved me. I tumbled over a cot, knocking it over as I slammed into the ground.

“Learn some fucking manners,” a man hissed at me. “You don’t just fucking push people, dipshit.”

I glared up at him. “You can’t talk to me like that. I’m—”

“I don’t give a fuck who you are,” he growled. “My wife is injured, and you could have torn open her stitches.”

“Honey,” a softer, pained voice said. “I’m fine.”

“I don’t care about your wife’s stitches. You have to respect me. I’m going to be luna.”

“Honey,” the woman said again. “Please. I’m fine. Okay? It’s… It’s too early to be fighting.”

“It’s never too fucking early to teach someone some fucking manners.” He sneered and spat at my feet. “Goddess, strike me dead if that ever happens.”

He turned to the woman seated on the cot. She was half wrapped in bandages, leaning to one side. I didn’t recognize her at all, but it hardly mattered. I took note of the man’s face and stomped off to where I had seen Candido, but he wasn’t there.

My face burned.

“Alpha Regent,” someone called. I turned and glared at the woman.

“Luna,” I said. “I’ll be Luna Queen. What do you want?”

She drew back and looked a little unsure. “I just…”

“Have you seen Candido?”

She shook her head. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

She scurried away, and I turned back to where I had been heading. Then, I headed in the direction of all the trucks. One of them was being loaded with boxes. Raven was nearby, leaning against a truck and looking at a map with Peter. They were leaned close, talking between themselves quietly.

I marched over, and a barrier repelled me before I could get close enough to see the map. Raven nodded and pointed at something, then Peter nodded and took the map with a grin.

Then, they looked at me through the barrier. They looked at each other briefly before Raven rolled her eyes. She waved her hand, and the barrier dissolver.

“No, I don’t know where Candido is, and no, I don’t care what you think you’ve suffered. We head out in an hour. The remnants of Candido’s kingdom are headed south to some bunker through the caves as soon as Uncle Ian opens them.”

She looked back at Peter. “I’ll see you back in Lunae.”

“It’s a date,” he said, then he flushed. “Well, I mean—”

“A date,” Raven said and winked at him. She turned, leaving him staring after her as she walked away.

The dreamy look on his face faded as he looked at me. He scoffed and turned away from me.

Then, I saw Wren. He wasn’t too far away from me. He said nothing as our eyes met, but I could tell he was watching me.

The injured were loaded onto the trucks and into the vans. No one even paused to answer me where Candido was. I didn’t see him at all. Other than telling him what Harper and that man had done to me, I wanted to tell him about my vision.

Then, I thought about it. If he hadn’t had the same vision, then it meant he wasn’t supposed to know, based on what Candido said. If I told him, would he try to avoid it? Maybe he already did know.

I couldn’t be sure about that, but I knew that vision was telling me that my plan to get rid of everyone who would protest me being luna was going to go my way.

Then, I heard Candido’s voice from somewhere in the group.

“We’re being escorted south through the caves to another clear area. From there, we’ll get to Plackard and set up our final base there. It’s been deserted for years and far enough from the vampire strongholds in Red Moon and Full Moon that we’ll have the space and time to heal and prepare for the end of all of this.”

I tried to push my way through the crowd toward him, but I couldn’t find him. No one would let me ride in one of the trucks or the vans, so I followed behind the caravan back through the caves.

As soon as we got to the other side, I saw the rest of Blue Moon. Harper barely glanced at me. Wren just kept his eyes on me. The other seemed to be avoiding me and walking further ahead in the caravan.

“Turn back!” Someone shouted from further ahead. “Ambush!”

People started screaming. Some of them rushed forward toward the sound of gunfire. Others rushed back the way we came, but the caves were closed.

“Left! Left! Everyone, head into the woods! Circe, cover!”

Gunfire filled the air. People rushed left, following the trucks. I tried to fight my way out of the crowd toward where I heard Candido’s voice. I managed to slip behind a tree as people kept rushing past. Then, in a rush of wind, everyone else seemed to vanish. The gunshots stopped, and everything was quiet.

I was left alone in the woods. My heart lurched as I heard people rushing toward me through the trees.

“Where did they go?”

They’d left me! I looked around, searching for some sign of Candido, but I couldn’t see anyone. There was just me and the forest.

“There! Catch her!”

Someone’s hands fell on my shoulders and pulled me back. I screamed and tried to fight, but they were so much stronger than me.

“Doesn’t she look familiar?” One of them asked.

“Ah… Marius will be happy with this one! Drinks on me, boys!”

They dragged me through the forest and through another set of caves. I shivered as the cold wrapped around me. Then, they threw me to the ground.

“Look at what we found, King Marius.”

My heart lurched as I looked up. The man looked no older than Candido, but I knew he had to be ancient. His hair was like pale silver thread, and his eyes were so dark they looked black.

He chuckled. “You’ve done well… Bring her with us.”

“Let me go!” I cried, trying to fight away from them. They laughed and hauled me up, following Marius through the caves until the air turned more humid, and I could hear birds. We walked into what looked like the inside of an old castle. It looked a lot like the place Ian had trapped me in. My stomach turned as I tried to fight their grip.

The men carrying me hauled me off my feet and tossed me into a cage. The air was hot around me. I felt sick and weak.

Then, I noticed the silver gleam of it and shuddered. Then, my heart lurched.

I hadn’t been affected by silver before. Why now?

“Don’t look so frightened,” Marius said with a smile. He chuckled. “I need you alive a little longer.”

“Why?” I asked. “If Candido comes for me—”

He scoffed. “That golden-furred whelp is nothing to me.”

He opened a mirror, and my heart pounded in my chest. The cage lifted into the air and followed him.

“I expected you to call to gloat about something,” Ian drawled. “At least make it good. My niece has started a betting pool.”

“Does it involve your other niece?” Marius asked, tilting the mirror so that I could see Ian’s face.

He rolled his eyes. “Honestly, you’re easier to kidnap than a baby. Why would I care about—”

His eyes turned bright red as Marius reached the bottom stairs. He dropped the cage. The air picked up around us, and I heard Ian’s voice coming through the mirror, dark and sinister.

“You will die a slow, painful death.”

Marius laughed. “I suppose I made it good.”

Then, he hung up.