The Ceremony

Ilse Kastellan

"I'm not going, and I'm certain you know that... After this stung you pulled." I hissed loudly after the courier came to drop the invitation letter, and the wax seal of the paper had already been broken.

Malakai sighed heavily. "Every Alpha and Luna in the territory will be there. Besides, this letter is nothing but an insult to the crown. We are the ones supposed to be handling this award ceremony, but it seems your ex-husband has taken control over it again."

"So?" I kept one hand at my hip, resting my entire weight on one leg. "I don't think you do understand the cost of having my daughter in the hands of those evil people. They killed my other twin daughter, Malakai! And I will be damned if they killed my second daughter too."

The entire room fell silent with Kai in shock at the news, not knowing that Gareth had, indeed, killed his own blood.

"This should be more of a reason why you need to come for the award ceremony if you really want your daughter back." Malakai pinched the space between his brows in frustration, and I could also see the desperation in his eyes because he really wanted me to be there at his side. "Even if you don't have anything to prove to the packs that you are the heroine of this war, at least you can solidify your presence as the queen of all packs. That is one of the ways you will be able to garner a high amount of support from the people and warriors of different packs when the time comes."

I thought about it for a second and it made some sense to me... To establish my presence in the packs because when the time came formed to destroy Gareth, I would do so with this much power backing me. But my current priority was getting my daughter out of there. I didn't want her getting caught in the crossfire of her parent's war.

"Fine." I sighed heavily. "When is the award ceremony? And I hope you do realize that I will be coming there as your wife and not a heroine." I held his gaze as he stared intensely at me, sending little tremors down my spine, but I was quick to avert my gaze as if he didn't affect me that much.

It took a while before he accepted that part. Well, he didn't have much of a choice because there was no way I would be able to prove my authenticity if they ever asked. I had felt th last of my strength slipping away in that dungeon before my daughter set me free.

"It makes me wonder..." Malakai finally stood up to his full height, making me frown slightly. "Who will Garreth use as his hero? Because I'm very certain that he wants to claim the prize money for himself."

"I guess we'll have to find out, wouldn't we?"

*

The hall was bigger than anything I had seen since the war, with banners from every pack hanging from the rafters and servants rushing between pillars carrying trays of crystal glasses. We had arrived early, so early that the benches were still mostly empty, and I kept tugging at the sleeves of the silver gown the maids had pinned me into that morning which was quite uncomfortable.

I was certain that if I was still married to Gareth all these years, I would have been able to get used to wearing such clothes. Malakai slipped a hand around my waist, almost startling me, as he guided me towards a decorated throne.

"Stop fidgeting." He whispered as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ears. "You already look like a beautiful Queen, and a confident one at that." He sounded quite proud, but I was slightly distracted by the brush of his fingers against my skin.

Why was my pulse racing at the feel of that? Had I really been touch-starved during the last seven years that I yearned to have a feeling of his skin again?

"You'll have to forgive me, King Kai." I told him mockingly. "But this is still quite new to me, and..."

"Just take a deep breath..." He whispered to my ears, and my body found itself obeying him. I felt the calmness take over my grating nerves as he led me to the dias, gesturing me to the seat on the right. "Wait for me here, I would like to have a conversation with some of the Alphas in attendance."

I nodded and settled in, watching him disappear, and once more, I was back inside my head as I stared aimlessly at the crowd, at how so much had changed in seven years, and the wide screen phone thingies that everyone seemed to have now. I made a mental note on asking Malakai how that worked, but for a second—

"Who do you think you are?" A woman's sharp voice reached my ears, and when I looked up, I found my sister standing over me with fury in her eyes. "Do you know that you are sitting where the Luna Queen is designated to sit? Where I am supposed to sit?" She growled and flashed her weak canines at me.

"You?" I cocked my head to the side with an air of arrogance, knowing that she wouldn't quite recognise me because I wasn't in filthy clothing and they would still believe that I was locked up in their dungeon with no strength left in me. "Is your husband, perhaps, the Alpha King?"

Her mood soured instantly. "Everyone treats him like a king because of everything—"

"Is he the King?" My eyes flashed dangerously at her, and I didn't need to bare my teeth or have a wolf to chase the likes of a lowly woman like her. I watched the fear and realization that came over her face.

"You're the King's wife? King Malakai?"

I didn't answer her, and my silence gave her the answer she needed. Even Gareth, who was approaching us, most likely to lay claim on the throne he had prepared for himself, paused in his steps as his wife bent the knee to me.

"Forgive me, your grace. No one knew that King Malakai had taken a wife." She said her head pressed to the ground.

My entire body coursed with excitement when I saw her head bowed. As opposed to yesterday where she had a smug look on her face, but this time, she looked genuinely terrified of supposedly incurring my wrath. Was this what being the Queen entailed?

"Your Grace, it's good to have you as one of us now." Her husband, my ex-husband, was the next person to bend his knee without being asked. "And forgive my wife's insolence. I will chastise her when we get home."

From the corner of my eyes, I caught Malakai staring at me with a ghost of a smile on his face as he mouthed to me. "I told you so."