Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(60)
“Ah!” Sofie warned sharply, her finger held up in warning. “Never say her name, even when he’s not around.”
“Of her …” I adjusted. “It’s like she never existed.”
“I know … but we all know she did,” Caden whispered, looking down at me. “None of us is going to forget. But she’s gone, and we have a choice of accepting it and moving on with this version of Bishop or losing both of them. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to do than sit by my best friend while he suffers, bound with Merth.” His hand grazed my cheek.
“I know but … if he thinks we’re together, then …” You and I can’t be, I finished in my head, unable to say the words.
“For now. Just for now.” Caden pulled me into another embrace.
As my head rested against Caden’s chest, I stared at the front door. He was the old Bishop, but still the wrong one. This was so much worse than having Caden think I’d been with Julian. So much worse …
“When this is all over,” I said.
“When it’s over, we’ll remind him of her,” Sofie agreed. “For now, though, with this war coming, we need all the help we can get. We can’t worry about him making things worse, causing scenes in public venues.”
Her mention of scenes brought me back to the attack, and Lilly. “Lilly will listen to you, Sofie. I told her to defer to you. I don’t know how to plan a war.” I had my own internal war to deal with.
“Good. She’s smart as a whip, that one.” Sofie said. “Dangerous and conniving, but smart. Watch out for her, Evangeline. She’s sworn her allegiance to you. That means she won’t harm you and she will do as you ask, but that doesn’t mean she can’t stab you in the back in some roundabout way. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that she tipped off the Sentinel, just so she could go in and save you … to earn your trust. Kidnap you without kidnapping you.”
I snorted. Surprise, surprise. Can’t trust a vampire. “Do you think it’s real? Or is she tricking us?”
“I’ll go find out. You, though,” her gentle fingers reached up to prod at my fat lip, “need to go get cleaned up. I see a cut there, but … no … it doesn’t need stitches, thank goodness. I’ll get Ivan.”
“No,” Caden interrupted. “I’ll do it.”
Sofie opened her mouth to object, but Caden brushed it off. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll take all the time with Evangeline that I can get.” He turned me down the hall with one hand wrapped protectively around my shoulder, the other holding my hand. We walked to the main bathroom in silence—the one where Ivan had stitched me up last time. The little medical case still sat on the counter.
“I should just move in here …” I said as Caden flicked on the light switch.
I gasped. The left side of my jaw was a sickly purplish-red and twice the normal size, outsized only by my lip, which was blackish-purple and easily three times bigger than usual. Dried blood had caked around the corner of my mouth, down to my jawline. Even with all the vampire bites and gashes on my hands and arms, this was by far the worst-looking injury I had acquired to date.
Lifting me under the arms like I weighed no more than a large piece of cotton, Caden gently positioned me onto the counter beside the sink. I trembled under his touch.
“So you decided to risk a war in the streets so you could go Christmas shopping?” He popped open the case and pulled out some antiseptic, cotton balls, and salt.
“When you say it like that, it sounds pretty lame,” I looked down at my feet, feeling the burn in my cheeks. “I just needed to get away for a while. Things have been hard lately.” And they were about to get a whole lot harder with this new Bishop issue …
Caden lined the items beside me on the counter. Reaching up, he gently gripped the coat zipper under my chin and unzipped me. His hands slid inside my jacket to my shoulders and pushed off the coat, sending fire to the butterflies already fluttering around in my stomach.
“What’d you get me?” he teased.
I grinned broadly but then winced. “Who says I got you anything?” I wondered if that expensive watch in my inner pocket survived the whole ordeal unscathed.
Caden chuckled as he saturated a cotton ball with antiseptic. He gently dabbed at my cheek and my lip. I winced from the sting and he stopped. “It’s okay, keep going,” I whispered. I watched him silently, gritting my teeth against the bite, distracting myself by visually tracing the lines of his beautiful face. His expression, suddenly more somber, his voice dropping an octave or two.
“I guess Amelie got something for Julian?” There was that tinge of bitterness again.
“Yeah. Does it bother you?”
He shook his head. “Does it bother you?”
“No.” Yes, but not for the reason you think, Caden.
He moistened another cotton pad and began smoothing it over my jawline, down along my throat. It didn’t hurt so much here. It was soothing. “They did a great job on your face,” he muttered.
“I’m collecting scars.”
That earned a small snort, followed by a shake of disapproval. “There,” he whispered, looking down into my eyes and I remembered then, again, how I could lose myself in them. Filling a cup with cold water from the tap and sprinkling some salt into it, he handed it to me. “Rinse.” After I did so, he leaned in and planted the lightest kiss on the unmangled side of my face.