"Your Grace, is this what I get after helping you all this time?!" Ida grumbled as she stomped her way in our direction. She continued to complain and stopped when she was close.
"How can you..." she trailed off as her eyes caught my figure, making my back freeze. To my surprise, despite that she was seething with anger, she flashed a small smile at me before setting her glares at Hugo.
"Is this the help you are talking about?!" she continued to harrumph. "Have you lost your mind? Are you asking for a duel or what?"
Hugo tilted his head, baffled at the hate he was receiving from his rightful mate. He glanced at Cora with a raised brow.
"Cora, what is this woman's problem?" he asked. But before Cora could answer, Ida roared.
"Why are you asking Her Highness?! Shouldn't you ask me what's wrong with me? How can you be so rude?" she barked angrily, frown growing worse.
"It's about her love, obviously. Ida wouldn't lose it if not for that," Cora chimed in with a shrug, shifting her attention to me to beam me a smile. "Rinnie, shall we head inside? These two will probably kill each other first."
"Uhh..." Before I could answer, Hugo had already spoken.
"Ida, can't you read the situation? I just reunited with my wife," he argued in a calm tone, but his expression told me he wasn't pleased by it.
"How about me?"
"What about you? I don't know what you are talking about. If your chosen mate died last night, then that's not my fault. It's yours since you cannot protect him. Or maybe it's his fault for being too weak."
His remarks caused her eyes to glow. "What do you mean by that? I'm saying to let him go."
"Huh?" Hugo was baffled, and so was I. He furrowed his brows, tilting his head. Meanwhile, I darted my eyes at the three of them, equally confused at the source of Ida's anger.
"Edge," Cora spoke with a sigh, shaking her head lightly as she draped her arm across my shoulder. "Apparently, the man Ida had been talking about all these years is Edge."
For a moment, my brain went blank. Hugo told me he and Ida rejected each other. My husband chose me while Ida chose a man whose name she didn't know. It was love at first sight, according to Hugo's words. But Edge?
Now that I thought about it, they were holding Edge as a prisoner? I gazed at Hugo's rear and witnessed his brow arch.
"The person you're talking about all these years is Edge?" he asked out of plain curiosity.
Ida lifted her chin. "Let him go."
"No," Hugo smirked as if taunting her. "Edge is part of my pack. Hence, I have the right to discipline or punish him. Kill him if I must."
"Hugo Tempest!"
"What?"
I darted my eyes between them, sensing the thickening tension between them. I thought of many scenarios between the two of them; I even dreamt about their happy life in the past three years. But this wasn't what I expected. They appeared as though they would truly duel to death.
But that wasn't important. I fixed my eyes on Hugo's side profile, noticing that his smirk wasn't the simple taunting. He wasn't joking. If Ida challenged him right here and now, he wouldn't back down and honor it with either of their death.
"Hugh," I called, worried at Edge's situation. I didn't want to act brazen or out of character, even though I was deeply worried about Edge.
Hugo cast me a quick look. "Bambi, you know the reason I am holding Edge captive, right?"
"You..." Ida's voice shook as she balled her hand into a fist. "... great! Very well, I challenge --"
"Hey, hey! Why don't you two calm down for now, eh?" this time, Cora withdrew her hand from me, planting them on Hugo's bicep and Ida's shoulder. "Edge did something that challenged his Alpha's authority. But it's not like Hugo will kill him. Why don't we focus on the important thing for now, eh? If you want to kill each other, then do it later."
Cora's lips stretched until her teeth showed. "Come on now. Rinnie just arrived. People are waiting for all of us."
There was a brief silence between Hugo and Ida. The latter's eyes were piercing, not here to play. For reasons unknown, she was akin to Hugo. She was hot-headed.
"I will not let you off," she warned, while Hugo shrugged. His nonchalance didn't appease her anger at all, causing her to smirk. "Very well."
Ida laughed, taking a step back. I nearly flinched when she set her eyes on me, lips stretching into an evil smile.
"Your Grace." To my surprise, her voice had a complete change as soon as she called me. In a blink of an eye, she skipped a step, hooking her arm around my arms sweetly.
"Will you marry me?" she asked, making me blink my eyes countless times.
"Huh?"
"Ida, seriously?" Hugo frowned, guessing what Ida was up to. But neither of us had what Ida truly had in mind. I thought she simply wanted to be friends, but I was wrong. What happened next made my mind blank.
"Yes, Your Grace. Seriously." Ida tilted her head, eyes on me, smiling. I looked at her cluelessly, watching her wink at me.
"No wonder His Grace is head over heels on you. So pretty." Her eyelids drooped until they were half-closed, smirking seductively. "Let's see..."
My eyes popped out of their sockets when she suddenly leaned her face forward. Before I knew it, her lips landed on mine. Time seemed to stop, and all I knew was Ida drawing her head back, smirking at me before setting her taunting gaze on Hugo.
She licked her lips. "Taste nice too."
"You…" Hugo's voice was low, affecting the temperature around us to drop. But Ida was unfazed by his intimidating aura.
"Do you think I can't steal your wife away?" she smirked, arching a brow. "I guess my promiscuous life is still not enough to prove I don't mind genders. I will challenge you after tonight. Just wait."
She huffed and smirked mockingly. Before she left, she cast me a look and winked, and then walked away as if nothing happened.
There was a moment of silence as I could only watch her back blankly. Surely, she was akin to Hugo's female version.