Return of A GHOST
1035 Words
The dungeon was colder than usual, the scent of iron thick in the air. Kael’s boots echoed softly as he stepped toward the chained man. The prisoner looked half-dead, eyes glassy but still burning with something feral.
“You said you had something that concerns me,” Kael said, his voice low but sharp.
The prisoner smiled faintly. “Concerns you? No, Alpha. It haunts you.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “Talk before I lose my patience.”
The man coughed blood, still smirking. “Your throne is built on a ghost.”
Kael grabbed him by the collar. “What ghost?”
“The one they said burned with your mother’s house. Your blood. Your brother.”
The words hit him like a strike. For a moment, Kael couldn’t breathe. “Lucien?” he asked, barely recognizing his own voice.
The prisoner laughed a sound more like a rattle. “He lives. And he gathers those who remember his name. The ones who never wanted you as Alpha.”
Kael’s grip loosened. “No. He died in the raid. I saw the flames”
“You saw what they wanted you to see.” The man’s head dropped forward. “Lucien breathes. And he’s coming.”
Before Kael could demand more, the prisoner convulsed violently. Foam spilled from his lips, and his body went limp. Poison.
Kael stood frozen for a heartbeat, heart pounding in disbelief. He turned sharply to his guards. “Get the council. Now!”
Moments later, the elders gathered in the council chamber, fear thick as smoke. His stepmother, Lady Vanya, entered last, her gaze calm too calm.
Kael didn’t wait for ceremony. “Tell me the truth,” he said. “All of it. About Lucien.”
No one spoke.
His voice thundered. “Do not test me tonight!”
An old counselor swallowed hard. “Alpha... we did not know if Lucien lived. His body was never found. But before the raid, he was promised to the Moonveil Alpha’s daughter.”
Kael froze. “Selena?”
Lady Vanya’s eyes flickered. “Yes. The union was meant to unite both packs. When he vanished, the alliance crumbled. Until you... restored it.”
Kael’s hand fell to his side. He stared into the fire pit in the center of the room. For a long time, he said nothing.
He remembered the nights he and Lucien would spar in the courtyard, both laughing until dawn. He remembered how Lucien would shield him when their father’s temper turned cruel. He remembered the fire the screams the smell of burning wood and blood.
And now... he was alive.
Lady Vanya’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Kael, if he returns, he will not come as a brother. He will come as a claimant to your throne.”
Kael’s eyes lifted slowly. “Then I will face him as both.”
He walked to the window, the moon’s glow sharp on his face.
“If Lucien lives,” he said quietly, “I will find him first.”
Behind him, the council murmured in fear. But Kael didn’t hear them.
Because deep down, beneath the shock and anger, something else stirred in his chest hope.
Hope that his brother wasn’t gone.
Hope that the boy he once loved still existed.
And yet, the thought of Selena’s name tied to Lucien’s… made the mark on his neck burn hotter than before.
The bond pulsed, wild and restless, warning him that blood and love were about to collide.
By morning, the fortress felt heavier. The scent of rain clung to the air.
Selena woke with a start, her dreams still tangled with the memory of Kael’s breath against her skin the mark pulsing where he’d touched her. She waited through the night, expecting him to return. He never did.
When the sun rose, the corridors stirred with life. Servants hurried, warriors trained, and the scent of food drifted through the hall.
She dressed quickly and made her way toward the dining hall. But as she reached the corridor, she saw him.
Kael.
He was striding out of the council wing, shoulders rigid, expression carved from stone.
Their eyes met for only a second.
No words. No sign of what last night had meant.
He passed her without stopping.
Selena froze where she stood, her chest tightening.
After everything the bond, his touch, the promise in his eyes he walked past her as if she were air.
The guards bowed as he entered the dining hall, leaving her in the corridor alone, her mark throbbing in protest.
She exhaled slowly, forcing her head high.
“Fine,” she whispered. “If he wants distance, I’ll give him silence.”
The chatter in the dining hall quieted the moment Kael entered. Every warrior, every elder, lowered their gaze. Selena sat near the end of the table, the only one who didn’t quite belong among them.
The air was already thick with unspoken judgment. And then one voice cut through it a sneer wrapped in false laughter.
“Seems the Moonveil sends beauty now instead of warriors. Perhaps that’s their new strategy.”
The table chuckled lightly, testing boundaries. Selena’s hand froze around her cup. She said nothing, eyes fixed on the table.
Then came the sound a metallic clang.
Kael’s knife had buried itself halfway into the wooden table, right beside the man’s hand. The room went dead still.
Kael didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.
He leaned forward slowly, his tone low, steady the kind that carried weight like steel.
“The next person who speaks her name without respect…”
He turned the knife slightly, its edge gleaming under the torchlight.
“...won’t have a tongue to use again.”
No one moved. The man beside the knife swallowed hard, color draining from his face.
Kael’s gaze finally shifted to Selena brief, unreadable before he stood and straightened to his full height.
“You. With me.”
He didn’t wait for her answer. The doors opened as he walked out, leaving the hall silent and trembling in his wake.
Selena hesitated only a moment before rising to follow, her pulse hammering in her ears.
- Writer
