Chapter Eighteen — Thaila Ghost

The wedding day came fast enough and i couldn't have wanted it any different. It was going to be a grand and royal celebration—royals and elders from all over the king are to attend—and were reeling with Joy.

"How do I look?" I asked my best friend for the twentieth time and she smiled sweetly and replied that I was the most beautiful bride she had ever seen.

I wanted everything to go smoothly. I ordered the finest silk, ornaments and food money could buy. I didn't had to but I put in extra efforts to impress cane.

Cane has not become himself since the coronation. Infact it didn't get better between us, things got worse. The last time i complained to my father he shrugged it off and said only I can make him love me—and he was right—he can't force a full grown man like can to love me. It's all in my hands now.

I adjusted my veil as I left the room. We only had this wedding to go through and he'll be all mine—bound by the mates bond and by law.

Speaking of the mates bond....

I began to see the flaw in my plans. Cane didn't mark me that night. He only chose me and claimed me and my head was up in the clouds. What I really needed was for him to mark me. To seal the new bond between us. The mate bond does not exist—not yet—and my wolf was beginning to get restless.

She wanted that connection to Cane's wolf. She wanted to be able to smell him from afar and talk to him through her mind link. Right now she doesn't even know what he smelled like. She wanted to know and I wanted that too. The wedding is going to be the best opportunity for that. But I needed to see cane. To make sure his mind is in the best place and either manipulate him or threaten him to not do anything stupid.

Cane was hardly dressed when I met him. He kept brandishing his sword as if he was fighting invincible enemies something that he only did when he was worried. I cleared my throat and he stopped.

"My love why are you not dressed" I said softly and I touched his back. I could feel him shiver a little from my touch and go still.

“I doubt the time has come.” he replied through clenched teeth.

“Its time dear. The people are waiting already. Don't worry I'll help you get dressed.” I said and picked up his clothes. I helped him put it on in silence and helped him with his beads. Just as I was about to place his crown on his head I whispered softly to his ears

“This is the moment we've been waiting for.”

“It is.”

“You will finally mark me today. Nova can't wait.”

“hmmm hmmm” he replied somewhat absent mindedly.

“Today is our day cane. Let's go give the people their ruler. Our time is not long anymore.” I said as I wore the crown on his head and he took my hands as we walked out.

Our betas were waiting for us outside the door. Cane's best friend and mine. My father's eyes beamed with joy as I walked down the aisle with cane.

“My pretty little princess” he whispered as we approached his throne.

The wedding was beautiful. As beautiful as I expected it to be. Everything went smoothly until we tied the knot and cane was asked to mark me.

“You may now mark the bride.” The high priestess voice boomed in the hall, and every where went quiet. Cane did not move. he just stood there frozen and my father's eyes went dark immediately.

“what are you doing?” I whispered to cane through clenched teeth. “Mark me now.” I commanded but what cane did next grabbed me by surprise.

“No.” he replied suddenly

“what?”

Voices were heard around the court room. The people where murmuring, then his voice sounded again.

“I wish to mark my bride In private.” He said loud enough for everyone to hear and the noise died down immediately.

“If that is your wish may it be so.” the priestess said after a small pause and my father began the festivities.

🤯

Later that night.

The silk sheets beneath me were cold despite the fire roaring in the hearth. The wedding feast had ended hours ago, but sleep was far from my eyes. I stared up at the carved ceiling of my bridal chamber, tracing the ornate vines with my eyes, but no amount of beauty could calm the unease that nestled in my chest.

Tonight should have been perfect but somehow it was not. I had finally secured the throne, the title, the crown. I was finally the queen. His bride. But somehow I couldn't breathe.

Cane lay beside me, already asleep, his breath was slow and even. He drank himself to stupor and fell asleep before I knew it. He looked so peaceful, so certain. Like a man who believed the war had been won and buried.

But I knew better.

He didn't end up marking me in private like he promised but I could blame that on his drunken state. My wolf was not happy about that and it took a lot of effort to calm her. And as the night deepened, I slipped into a sleep that did not comfort me. Instead it haunted me.

The dream began like a memory.

The Greenwood courtyard bathed in moonlight. The guests were all dressed in white. While i stood in the center, veiled, crowned and cloaked in gold and silk.

But something was wrong. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. The air gradually grew thick with smoke. Everyone was struggling to breathe

And then—

I heard a voice. It was familiar. I froze as I heard her speak.

“You don't deserve that crown.”

I turned. People made way as her ghost floated through.

Thalia.

She was different. She wasn't the weak, sniveling omega who used to cry in the kitchens. She was wrapped in flame and fury. Her eyes were glowing embers, her hair dancing like smoke, her skin kissed by firelight. She moved like a goddess born from ash.

I tried to speak, but my throat closed.

“You watched me burn,” she whispered, stepping closer.

Her voice echoed and the ground cracked beneath her feet, leaving trails of scorched grass. With every step she took the fire followed her.

She was on fire..... but she wasn't..... burning

“You wanted me dead,” she hissed, “and you set me aflame.”

My veil caught fire and I screamed, clawing at the lace that clothed me but it only melted into my skin. My gown burnt and my crown glowed red-hot.

“You stole everything.” She screamed like an angry ghost and raised her hand. I stood there charred and frightened as I watched greenwood burn behind her. It was like the day we lit the stake. it was so real like it was happening again—but this time, worse. The pack house collapsed in flames. Wolves ran, screamed, but thaila just stood there, on the ashes of my kingdom like it was her birthright.

“I am the true Luna,” she said, her voice low and final. “You would never be.”

“No! No! I earned this. You’re dead!” I cried.

She smiled and it chilled me more than the fire ever could.

“Not dead enough.” She said then she vanished, allowing the fire to swallow me whole.

I screamed as I woke up. Gasping and drenched in sweat. The sheets tangled around my legs and my hands were trembling, clutching my chest like I could pull the terror out of me.

Cane woke up.

“Seraphina are you alright?”

I didn't answer instead, I shoved the sheets aside and jumped out of bed, my bare feet cold against the marble floor. I lit a candle with shaking fingers and moved to the mirror, to see my face. But what I saw shocked me.

My eyes were wild. My cheeks flushed. And I looked like a ghost in a bride’s robe. The dream clung to me like smoke.

“Seraphina?”

“Thaila.” I replied in a breeze.

“Did you see Thalia?” He sat up, eyes narrowing.

I hesitated. Then walked toward him and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the firelight dancing across the floor.

“I saw her,” I whispered.

He blinked. “What did she do?”

“She was… in flames, but alive. Her eyes were glowing. She was angry, Cane. She....she burned everything. The pack. The palace. Me.”

“It was a dream.” he said softly.

“No it wasn't.” I looked at him, heart pounding. “It didn’t feel like a dream. It was real.”

He rubbed his jaw, clearly trying to choose his words. “Thalia is dead. You saw her burn. We all did.”

“But what if she’s not?” I snapped, standing up again. “What if....what if she survived?”

Cane frowned. “You saw the flames. Nothing could survive that.”

“You didn’t answer me,” I said, voice sharper now. “Do you think she could’ve survived?”

He paused. it was a long pause.

“I don't know....maybe,” he finally muttered.

My skin crawled.

He saw the look on my face and added quickly, “But even if she did survive, I doubt she will ever come back. She’d never make it back here. You are now the Luna. it's your kingdom.”

“Our kingdom.” I muttered..

“Still,” I whispered, pacing now, “If my dream is real, she has a motive. And she has power. In my dream, Cane, she wasn’t just alive. She was something else. Something dangerous.”

He got up and wrapped his arms around me, his warmth doing nothing to ease the chill that had rooted itself in my bones.

“You’re the Luna now,” he said. “You’ve won. Don’t worry about ghosts or Thaila.”

He went quiet after that and the silence stretched. That night, I didn’t sleep again. I sat by the window, watching the horizon for fire, waiting for her.

The next morning, I told the servants to burn the veil I wore at the wedding. When they asked why, I said it was bad luck. I didn’t tell them that the lace still smelled like smoke to me.

That I could still hear her voice.

I watched the flames eat the fabric and told myself it wasn’t an omen. It was just cloth, Just a dream.

But in my mind things were different.

What if she’s alive?

What if she’s coming?

I swore to myself then and there, beneath the morning sun and the ashes of my bridal veil that I will never let her take what I fought for.

She may have survived the fire. But if she returns, I'll make sure she dies this time. Slowly and painfully. I'll chop up her body and burn it to ashes then I'll throw the ashes in the stream she loves so much. I will make sure she doesn't survive it a second time.