Chapter 144
Chapter 144
When I woke, the world was soft and muted.
The first thing I felt was the heavy pull of exhaustion in my bones, as if my very soul had been wrung dry and left to hang in the cold.
My fingers twitched against the sheets–smooth linen, faintly scented with lavender and smoke. The air around me was still, save for the distant murmur of voices and the low, reassuring hum of the kingdom’s heartbeat beyond the walls.
I drew in a slow breath, my chest aching with the movement. Every muscle complained. Every nerve felt raw, as if I had been scraped open from the inside.
And in truth… maybe I had been.
Images came in fractured bursts — blinding white light from Lira’s ritual circle, Francesco’s roar tearing through the night, the hiss of the book’s pages burning with power as we fought to force Luca back inside. The stench of ash and iron, the tremor of the ground under my paws, and the feeling–gods, the feeling — of the void resisting us.
I forced my eyes open.
The room swam in soft gold from a single lamp, shadows pooling in the corners. A thick wool blanket lay over me, heavier than I remembered. My throat was parched, my lips cracked.
“You’re awake.”
The voice was low, rough, and achingly familiar.
Francesco sat in the chair beside my bed, elbows resting on his knees, his broad frame hunched forward as if he’d been guarding me for days.
His eyes–storm–grey and bloodshot – searched mine with an intensity that made my pulse stutter.
“Francesco… How long-” My voice broke into a rasp.
“Two days,” he said. His tone was clipped, but the faint quiver beneath it betrayed the truth. “You collapsed right after the seal took hold. You haven’t
stirred since.”
Two days.
I let the weight of that sink in.
The last thing I remembered was the blinding flare of Mika’s power surging through me – raw, pure, untamed – and then the darkness swallowing me
whole.
Jlicked my lips, tasting the faint tang of copper. “The ritual… did it ”
“It’s done,” Francesco said, and his voice was final. “Lira led it to the end. Luca’s essence is sealed back inside the book, and he’s gone. He won’t be rising again. Not in this lifetime.”
Relief swept through me like a tide, but it was laced with the faint, bitter aftertaste of what it had cost.
My gaze shifted past him.
On a small table against the far wall lay the remnants of a shattered charm – Lira’s, no doubt and a basin half–filled with water, pink with someone’s blood. The smell of burnt herbs still lingered.
“Casualties?” I asked quietly.
His jaw tightened. “Fifteen dead. Six won’t see another sunrise without a healer’s hand… and even then…” He trailed off, the muscle in his cheek ticking.
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The grief was sharp, immediate.
pressed my palm against my chest, feeling the heavy thrum of my heart.
We had stopped Luca, but the kingdom had bled for it.
“Where’s Lira?” I asked.
“She’s alive,” Francesco said, softer this time. “But drained. She’s been sleeping almost as much as you. Without her…” He shook his head. “Without her, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, drawing in a shaky breath.
My wolf, Mika, stirred faintly inside – still tired, still raw, but alive. Whole.
“I need to see the others,” I said, pushing myself upright.
Francesco’s hand shot out instantly, steadying me with firm, warm strength. “You need to rest-”
“No,” I said, and my voice was firmer than I expected. “They need to see their Luna awake.”
His eyes narrowed, the Alpha in him bristling against my stubbornness, but after a moment, he exhaled sharply and rose from his chair.
“Fine,” he said. “But you don’t walk alone.”
The corridors outside were quieter than I expected – hushed, as if the entire castle was holding its breath.
Soldiers we passed paused to bow low, their eyes flicking between Francesco and me with something more than respect.
There was relief there.
And awe.
When we stepped into the great hall, all conversation died. Heads turned. I saw warriors with bandaged arms, servants with weary faces, and healers moving like shadows between the wounded.
And then, slowly, they began to kneel one by one, until the entire hall was bent in deference.
A shiver went down my spine.
Not from fear, but from the weight of it.
The acknowledgment…
I walked forward, Francesco’s presence at my side like a wall of steel.
And as I passed, I let my gaze meet theirs – every bowed head, every wounded soul–silently telling them that I was still here.
That we had survived.
The first place I insisted on visiting was the infirmary.
The scent hit me before we stepped inside – sharp antiseptic layered over blood, herbs, and the faint, lingering scorch of burned magic.
The room was dimly lit, lined with rows of cots. Warriors lay in them, some pale and still, others stirring weakly under the careful hands of healers.
Conversations hushed the moment they saw me.
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A young soldier, barely older than nineteen, tried to sit up despite the fight bandages around his chest.
His eyes were wide, full of something between reverence and disbelief
“Stay down,” I told him gently, moving to his side. “You’ve done enough”
His lips trembled. “We heard you… your voice, when the seal closed. It felt like… the moon herself was speaking”
swallowed hard.
Mika stirred faintly inside, sending a warm ripple through my veins. “That wasn’t just me,” I said softly. “It was all of us. You stood. You fought. You stayed.”
The boy’s eyes welled, but he nodded, sinking back into the thin pillow.
I touched his shoulder lightly before moving on..
One by one, I walked between the cots–meeting each gaze, speaking quietly.
I listened to their wounds and their fears.
I promised them that their sacrifice would be honored.
At the far end, I found Captain Roran a giant of a man whose leg was splinted and bound in layers of linen.
His skin was ashen, but his grip when I took his hand was firm.
“Luna,” he rumbled. “You should be resting.”
I gave him the smallest smile. “And you should be terrorizing the new recruits, not lying here. We both have some recovering to do.”
A deep laugh rattled from his chest, followed by a grimace of pain. “When I’m up again, I’ll make sure they work twice as hard. Can’t have the kingdom relying on you and His Alpha for every damned thing.”
His words were gruff, but his eyes shone with quiet pride.
I found Lirà in the adjoining chamber, lying under a soft blue blanket.
Her usually bright copper hair was dulled, her skin pale as moonlight. The deep shadows beneath her eyes told the story of how much she had given.
She stirred when I knelt beside her bed. “Luna…” Her voice was a whisper, fragile.
“I’m here,” I said, taking her hand. It was cool to the touch, but her grip, though weak, was steady. “You saved us all.”
Her lips curved faintly. “We saved us all. Don’t… don’t forget that.”
For a long moment, we simply stayed like that – fingers clasped, the silence thick with unspoken words.
I wanted to tell her how terrified I’d been when she collapsed, how I’d thought we might lose her.
But she would only brush it off, so instead, I squeezed her hand once more and promised, “I’ll make sure you rest. Even if I have to chain you to this bed.”
She huffed a laugh that dissolved into a cough. Bossy.”
Francesco’s voice rumbled from the doorway, “She’s learning from the best.”
I glanced back to see him leaning against the frame, arms crossed, watching us with that unreadable intensity.
But there was something in his gaze when it settled on Lira – a rare, unguarded softness.
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When we left the infirmary, Inoticed the change immediately.
The corridors were busier now.
Servants carrying trays and scrolls hurried past, their voices low but urgent.
Messengers darted through the hall, their satchels heavy.
Soldiers stood in tighter formations, their armor polished but their eyes wary.
The whispers reached me in fragments as we walked.
“Her power, did you feel it? Like moonfire-”
“…if the other kingdoms find out what happened-”
“…the Alpha’s chosen mate, without a doubt…”
I kept my expression neutral, though my heart beat faster. In two days, everything had shifted.
The kingdom had seen me, not just as a human–raised she–wolf, not his king fated mate too – but as the woman who had stood in the circle and helped seal away an ancient threat.
And in a place like this, that meant more than just gratitude. It meant influence. It meant political weight. It meant danger.
We end the council, now we end ancient threat too.
Sometimes, they tend to fear power especially since my fate mate, Francesco is the only Lycan left and I am the white wolf, I understand how they fear
could turn into something.
Back in my chambers, I sank onto the edge of the bed, exhaustion tugging at me again.
Francesco didn’t speak at first, just stood by the window, looking out over the snow–dusted courtyard.
Finally, he said, “They’re already moving.”
I frowned. “Who?”
“Some of the other territory massenger. Some want to call a summit. Others want to bury what happened entirely. There’s talk of using your… display… as leverage against things.” His tone was cool, but his eyes when they met mine were anything but.
I wrapped my arms around myself. “So I’ve gone from liability to dangerous weapon, like the council used to say before they were destroy.”
“Not to me,” he said sharply. He crossed the room in two strides, stopping just close enough that the heat of him cut through the cold in my bones. “To me, you’re the reason the kingdom still stands.”
My breath caught. His gaze was steady, unflinching–the kind that could strip you bare without touching you.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” he said, voice low. “Not while I still draw breath.”
For a heartbeat, the room felt smaller, the air thicker. I could see strain around his eyes, the faint tremor in his jaw–signs of how close he’d come to losing me.
And for the first time since waking, I let myself lean into that warmth, if only for a moment.
Because outside, the world was already shifting into something new.
And whatever came next… we would always face it together.
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