THE KINGS WIFE
1635 Words
Lyra’s POV
The doors exploded inward.
I didn’t scream.
I couldn’t.
For one terrible second, all I could see was darkness rushing into the room, followed by splintered wood and a cloud of silver dust.
Then the wolves started howling.
Not outside.
Inside the palace.
Their voices rose from every corridor at once, a deafening chorus that made the floor tremble beneath my feet.
Kael stepped in front of me.
His body became a wall between me and whatever had entered.
I could barely see his face, but I saw his eyes.
Gold.
Brighter than before.
Almost burning.
“Stay behind me.”
His voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Something in it made every guard in the room straighten.
I grabbed the edge of my torn dress.
“Who are they?”
Kael didn’t answer.
A shadow moved through the broken doorway.
Then another.
Men entered the room wearing dark armor marked with a crimson crescent.
Not the silver wolf of Kael’s kingdom.
Something else.
Something hostile.
The first man raised his sword.
“We have come for the Moon Goddess.”
My heart stopped.
Moon Goddess.
Again.
That name seemed to follow me everywhere.
Kael’s shoulders tightened.
“You have entered my palace uninvited.”
The man smiled.
“And you have hidden her.”
“Leave.”
“We will not.”
Kael took one step forward.
The temperature in the room dropped.
The guards behind him drew their weapons.
The stranger laughed.
“You cannot protect her forever, Wolf King.”
Kael’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“Watch me.”
The first attacker lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Steel flashed.
A wolf leapt through the broken doorway.
Someone screamed.
Kael moved so quickly that I barely saw him.
One moment the attacker was standing.
The next, he was thrown across the room.
He crashed against the wall hard enough to crack the stone.
I stared.
Kael didn’t even look winded.
Then another man came from behind him.
I saw the blade before Kael did.
“Kael!”
He turned.
Too late.
The sword cut across his side.
Blood appeared instantly.
My heart lurched.
He stumbled.
I moved without thinking.
“Kael!”
I reached for him.
The moment my fingers touched his blood-covered shirt, something exploded inside my chest.
Silver light rushed through my body.
The attacker screamed.
He dropped his sword and fell to his knees.
Everyone stopped.
The light spread from my hand into Kael.
His wound closed.
Completely.
I stared at my fingers.
Kael stared at me.
The entire room stared at us.
Nobody spoke.
Then one of the guards whispered:
“She healed him.”
Another fell to his knees.
“Moon Goddess.”
I stepped backward.
“No.”
My voice shook.
“I’m not.”
The stranger on the floor looked up at me.
His face had gone pale.
“You don’t know what you are.”
I swallowed.
“Tell me.”
He smiled.
“You’ll remember soon enough.”
Kael’s expression changed.
“Take him.”
Two guards dragged the man away.
I watched them disappear through the broken doorway.
Then I looked at Kael.
Blood still stained his clothes.
“You were hurt.”
“I’m fine.”
“You were bleeding.”
“I’m fine.”
“You could have died.”
His eyes met mine.
“And you healed me.”
I looked down.
The silver mark on my chest was still glowing faintly.
“I didn’t know I could do that.”
“I know.”
Something about the way he said it made me angry.
“You knew.”
Kael didn’t answer.
“You knew I had powers.”
“Not exactly.”
“You knew something would happen.”
“I suspected.”
“That’s not better.”
His jaw tightened.
I stepped closer.
“You’ve known something about me from the beginning.”
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“How much?”
He looked at me.
“Enough to know you’re in danger.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I can give you tonight.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps telling me tonight isn’t the right time.”
Kael’s eyes softened for a fraction of a second.
“Because you’re not ready.”
“I’m tired of hearing that.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
I pointed toward my chest.
“Something is happening to me, Kael. A woman who looks like me speaks inside my head. I can heal wounds I don’t understand. People are breaking into your palace because they think I’m some goddess.”
My voice cracked.
“And you’re still keeping secrets.”
He stared at me.
Then he reached toward my face.
I froze.
His fingers stopped just before touching my cheek.
He lowered his hand.
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“By lying to me?”
“By keeping you from the truth until I know which parts of it can kill you.”
I didn’t know what to say.
For once, Kael looked tired.
Not like a king.
Like a man carrying something far too heavy.
Before I could ask another question, footsteps sounded outside.
Lady Seraphine entered.
Her eyes immediately found me.
“Your Majesty.”
Kael turned.
“What?”
“The council has assembled.”
His expression darkened.
“Tell them to wait.”
“They won’t.”
“Then make them.”
She hesitated.
“They are demanding that Lady Lyra be brought before them.”
I felt a strange knot form in my stomach.
Kael looked at me.
“No.”
Seraphine’s eyebrows lifted.
“Your Majesty?”
“She isn’t going.”
“They believe she is the Moon Goddess.”
“I don’t care what they believe.”
“The northern lords are threatening to withdraw their armies.”
“Let them.”
Seraphine stared at him.
“Kael.”
It was the first time I heard someone address him without his title.
He looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Then she sighed.
“The council will interpret this as weakness.”
Kael’s expression became cold.
“Let them.”
Seraphine left.
I stared at him.
“You really aren’t going to take me to them?”
“No.”
“Why?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because I don’t trust them.”
I almost smiled.
“At least we agree on something.”
His mouth curved faintly.
Then the smile vanished.
“There’s another reason.”
“What?”
He looked at the glowing mark on my chest.
“They will try to make you prove what you are.”
A chill moved through me.
“How?”
Kael didn’t answer.
I understood anyway.
“By hurting me.”
His silence confirmed it.
I stepped backward.
“They would actually do that?”
“Some of them would.”
“And you?”
His gaze held mine.
“What about me?”
“Would you hurt me?”
Something dangerous flashed in his eyes.
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
No hesitation.
“No matter what happens, I will not be the one who hurts you.”
My chest tightened.
I looked away.
Why did his words affect me?
Why did I believe him?
I shouldn’t.
He was still the man who had dragged me from my home.
Still the man who knew secrets about me that he refused to share.
Still the Wolf King.
Yet somehow, standing there with blood on his shirt and my silver light fading from his wound, he didn’t look like the monster everyone had described.
He looked like someone afraid.
Not of me.
For me.
A bell suddenly rang somewhere deep beneath the palace.
Once.
The sound echoed through the walls.
Kael’s head snapped toward the floor.
Another bell.
Then another.
His face changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Kael.”
He walked toward the window.
I followed.
Outside, the Blood Moon hung enormous above the mountains.
But something was wrong.
The moon wasn’t simply red anymore.
A thin black ring had appeared around it.
Kael whispered something in a language I didn’t understand.
Then he turned toward me.
“Get away from the windows.”
My heart began pounding.
“Why?”
“Now.”
I moved.
The moment I stepped away, a massive crack split across the sky.
I stared upward.
Something was opening.
Not a cloud.
Not lightning.
A black tear was spreading across the heavens.
Wolves throughout the kingdom began howling.
Kael reached for my hand.
This time, I didn’t pull away.
“What is happening?”
His fingers tightened around mine.
“The seal is breaking.”
“What seal?”
He looked at me.
And whatever he saw on my face made his expression soften.
“The one keeping the ancient gods asleep.”
My blood turned cold.
“Gods?”
Kael looked toward the black sky.
“Yes.”
Then he looked back at me.
“And your awakening just told them where you are.”
A sound like thunder rolled across the kingdom.
Something enormous moved behind the black tear.
I squeezed Kael’s hand.
“What is that?”
His eyes hardened.
“The first of them.”
The palace shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Kael pulled me against him.
“Stay close to me.”
I looked up at him.
“Why?”
His arms tightened around me.
“Because whatever is coming…”
Another roar shook the night.
“…it has been waiting a thousand years to find you.”
And somewhere beyond the mountains, something answered.
Not with a roar.
With my name.
“Lyra.”
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