chapter nineteen — Crown of Ashes

Cane's Pov

After the coronation Before the wedding

I was in the garden—Thaila's favorite place in the palace—thinking about her. We didn't get to spend much time together before she was sentenced to die by the fire but I was wondering what knowing her would be like and my wolf kyle was beating me up about rejecting her as usual.

He always saw something special in her long before I could smell her scent. Since we were children. Long before she became my mate. While the world scorned her, called her names and rejected her my wolf always defended her. He would growl and snap at anyone who called her cursed in my presence and I always tried to stop him because the whole park has concluded that she was responsible for the death of our favorite Luna and I as the Alpha king prodigy cannot be found thinking differently.

I had just gotten away from seraphina who was trying to make advances towards me.

“Seraphina hold yourself. I will mark you on my wedding night.” I said to her and stormed out in anger, finding solace in the very place she loved.

I was lost in thought when I suddenly felt a shadow pass behind me. I immediately became alert, ready to fight if anything were to happen then I heard a voice behind me.

“Cane drop your weapons. I'm here to talk to you about something very important.”

I turned and dropped my weapon.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered.

“why are you covered and cloaked like this?” I asked in a hushed tone. Scared that someone would hear me.

“This is a secret meeting.” She whispered.

“Do you think Thalia is dead?”

I froze in my tracks, my mind racing. Just on the night of my coronation my wolf was trying to convince me that thaila is not dead and I was finding it hard to believe. Now the high priestess is confronting me with the same matter.

“You saw that fire.” I replied after a long pause.

“You are even a victim of that fire. Look at the burns on your skin. How do you expect anyone to survive that fire?”

“Search your heart, Noble one. Do you think Thalia is dead? You know the answer. Listen to your wolf.”

I was stunned. Is thaila really not dead?

“Are...are you trying to tell me that she's alive?”

“I perceive so.” She said calmly.

“I have received a prophecy from the Moon goddess and you shall know in time. But for now—keep trusting your wolf.” with that she disappeared as silently as she appeared leaving me torn by my thoughts.

present day.

The morning after the wedding should have been a celebration.

Instead, it was smoke and tension. Seraphina burnt her wedding veil that was very expensive saying it was bad luck and she was very agitated. Which meant that whatever she saw in her dream was real enough to get her spooked. I barely had a moment to process Seraphina’s terror from the night before when a servant knocked on my door, pale and breathless.

“There is an emergency court meeting" He said while bowing lightly. "She wants the High Priestess summoned to court. Immediately,” he added.

No title. No explanation. Just she. I didn’t need to ask who Seraphina is unpredictable. You would never be able to tell her next move.

Seraphina was already seated as I entered the hall. She was dressed in formal robes—white and silver—and her crown crooked on her head like she hadn’t bothered to fix it. Her eyes looked sunken, like she hadn’t slept at all. Because she hadn’t.

I sat silently beside her, like I always did. But inside me, I couldn't stop thinking back to that day the high priestess met me at the garden.

what's going to happen now? I wondered.

King Marcus was already seated on his obsidian throne, his expression was sour and barely concealed behind formality. All the elders, generals and court officials were present as we waited for the arrival of the high priestess.

The High Priestess arrived some moments later. She walked slowly but steadily, commanding an eerie silence with each step she took. Her silver veil shimmered under the stained-glass skylight. She always had that effect on people. Eternal and unbothered.

“High Priestess,” Seraphina began immediately the high priestess stood few minutes before the throne. Her voice was sharp but shaky. “I have questions, that is why you have been summoned today.”

The Priestess said nothing, only inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment.

“I had a dream last night,” Seraphina continued. “A vision.”

Her father sat straighter in his seat. I could see the subtle flare of his nostrils, the tightening of his fists.

“It was about her,” Seraphina said, glancing around the chamber. “Thalia.”

That name dropped like a stone into a quiet pond. The court fell even more still.

“She was alive… but different,” Seraphina whispered. “Stronger. Covered in flame. Her eyes were glowing red. She burned the pack to the ground and accused me. She almost turned everything to ash and attacked me.”

The King’s gaze narrowed on the High Priestess.

“Well?” he asked. “Is it just a dream, or something we should be bothered about?”

The Priestess stepped forward without fear. She lifted her hands slowly and drew a small curved blade from beneath her robes. Without a word, she sliced her palm open and let the blood drip into a bowl of moonwater.

The liquid hissed and turned crimson black.

Everyone in the room stiffened, including me.

The High Priestess tilted her head. “Do you remember the scroll of the First Flame?”

I blinked and seraphina answered. “The prophecy? That old myth?”

“It was not a myth,” she said, her voice like the rustle of wind over bones. “It spoke of a girl born in shadow, kissed by fire, rejected by her blood, and yet destined to wear the crown of ashes. A queen not born—but forged.”

I remembered reading that scroll as a child. I even laughed at it.

Thalia, though… she used to cling to it like a lullaby. One day I caught her mother telling her the story and thaila just sat there and listened like it meant the world to her.

“You think that prophecy is about her?” seraphina scoffed. “It could mean anyone.”

The Priestess ignored her and continued.

“She Is The Flame That Shall Not Die.”

“She was burned,” the Priestess whispered. “But the flames chose her. It swallowed her body and gave her back her purpose. Her blood carries the ember of ancient wolves. Do you not feel it, Luna? The tide shifting?”

I felt it and I am sure seraphina felt it too. Because she looked sick. Fear was written all over seraphina's face. She wasn’t ready for a reckoning and it made me scared too. Because no matter what I felt towards her I betrayed her as well. I rejected her when no one stood by her.

King Marcus rose from his seat.

“I won’t have ghosts haunting my court or my kingdom,” he said with a snarl. “If Thalia lives, she’s a threat. And threats must be eliminated.”

He turned toward his generals. “Double the patrols around the borders, sweep the outposts. Send scouts to every village within fifty miles and if there is a whisper of an omega wrapped in fire—bring me her head.”

My chest burned at those words. The image of Thalia, small and bruised, washing dishes behind the servant quarters and blood stained armors by the river flashed in my mind.

Then another image replaced it. The image of Thaila torched by the fire, how the fire increased till it burnt the whole ground.

I stepped forward.

“I’ll lead the operation,” I said clearly. “I've trained in those woods all my life and no one knows these woods like I do. I’ll coordinate the scouts and the trackers myself.”

King Marcus gave me a hard look. “You’d better bring back results, Cane. If she is alive, we must finish what we started.”

It sounded like a threat but I just nodded.

The court was dismissed and the High Priestess glided out in silence, her veiled gaze lingering just a moment longer on me than necessary. I thought back to that day at the garden. She was telling me to do something. To follow my heart and I understood her perfectly.

Seraphina stormed past me into the hallway and I followed her. She was shaking again. Not from cold but from fear.

“You believe her, don’t you?” she snapped at me, spinning around. “You believe Thalia survived.”

I didn’t answer.

She stepped closer, her voice dropping. “I asked you this question last night. Now if you’re hiding something, anything—if you even think of protecting her—”

“I swore loyalty to Greenwood,” I said quietly. “That hasn’t changed.”

“But what about your heart?” she spat. “Where does that lie, Cane?”

I looked at her, my expression unreadable.

Then I turned and walked away.

---

Back in my chambers, I pulled off the ceremonial cloak and began to put on my armor. Then i walked to the window. The sky was grey, the morning stretching thin over the forest below.

She could be anywhere, or nowhere.

But something inside me told me that she was out there. The fire hadn’t killed her. Instead it remade her.

There was something about her last look. The one before the execution. It wasn't fear. Not tears.

But quiet defiance. Like she knew something the rest of us didn’t.

Like the fire was never going to be her end.

I ran my fingers through my hair, gripping the window as if it could ground me. My thoughts were a storm. The guilt. The loyalty. The ache I’d buried.

We did something unforgivable. And if she was alive I wondered what she held in store for us.

I left immediately to met with the scouts and trackers. I stood before the war table, the maps of the kingdom sprawled out before us.

“Start here,” I pointed to the southern ridge near the rogue borders. “She wouldn’t risk the northern gate—it’s too guarded.”

“What if she went east?” one of the scouts asked. “Toward the ruined river village?”

“Then you’ll find her scent there. If you catch even a trace—send word. Do not engage her alone. I repeat, do not engage.”

They looked at each other, confused.

“Sir?” one asked. “She’s just an omega, isn’t she?”

I hesitated. Just for a second.

“No,” I said softly. “I don't think so....not anymore.”

I left them with their orders and returned to my horse. The sun was dipping behind the mountains, casting long shadows across the trees by the time we were done.

I mounted without a word and rode toward the edge of the kingdom.

My mission was clear, To find her.

But I didn’t come to destroy her. I came to see for myself. To see if the ghost of Thalia still walked this earth. And to know who she had become.