Chapter 12 Ghost in the room

The music was a loud, thumping drum that made the floor shake.

The gold on the walls was too much. It was very big. It was very bright. It was a trap made of light. Evening had come, and the Grand Ballroom was full of people. Five years ago, I washed the dirt off these stones. I was a bug then. I was a girl with a mop. Now, I had a crown made of iron. My blue dress was heavy. My black veil hid my face from the world.

"Stay close," I breathed to Silas.

"I am here," he rumbled. His voice was deep. "The King is looking. He has not moved. Do not look back."

I looked. I had to see him. I had to know.

Valerius stood in the middle of the room. He held a glass of red drink. He looked at me. His eyes were wide. He did not move. He did not breathe. He just stared like I was a ghost.

"Who is she?" a woman asked.

"The Queen of Shadows," a man whispered. "She comes from the bad place."

Valerius walked toward me. His boots went thud thud thud. He stopped two feet away. I smelled him. Cedar. Smoke. It was the smell of my old life. It was the smell of the man who hurt me. It made my nose itch.

"Queen," he growled.

"King," I snapped back.

"You came," he whispered.

"I came to talk about peace. I did not come to stand in the door and look at the floor," I barked.

"Then let us dance," he muttered. He put out his hand.

I looked at his palm. It was the hand that held the hot iron. It was the hand that branded my skin. My neck felt hot. The silver 'X' was warm under my dress. It was like a fire that would not go out.

"I do not dance," I hissed.

"It is the rule of the peace meeting," Valerius muttered. He stepped closer. He was very tall. He blocked the light. "If we do not dance, my people will be scared. They will think you want to fight. Do you want them to be scared?"

"I do not care if they are scared. They were not scared when I was a slave," I growled.

"Dance with me," he commanded. He grabbed my hand.

The touch was like fire. It was a big shock. My skin felt hot. My blood felt fast. Zap. It was the bond. It was the spark. It was still there. My wolf gave a tiny cry in my head. She was a fool. She wanted him. She wanted the man who threw us away. I wanted to slap him. But I had to be a Queen. I had to play the part.

He led me to the floor. The music started. It was slow and sad. He put one hand on my waist. He held my hand with the other.

"Your hand is cold," he whispered.

"The Dead Lands are cold. Everything there is cold," I snapped.

We moved. He was a good dancer. He moved like a cat. I kept my head up. I looked at his chin. I did not want to look at his eyes. They were too blue. They were too sad.

"Look at me," he commanded.

"No," I hissed.

"Why do you hide your face?" he asked.

"I choose what I show. You chose to show me the iron. I choose to show you the veil," I muttered.

He moved his face close to my ear. His breath was hot. It made me shiver. It made me mad.

"I know those eyes," he whispered. "I see them in my sleep. Every night for five years. They are the eyes of a girl I lost. They are the eyes of a girl I killed."

"Maybe you should sleep more. You look tired," I barked.

"She was small. She was weak. But she had eyes like yours. Like stars in a dark sky," he muttered.

"I am not a maid. I am not weak," I growled. I pushed his chest. "I am a Queen. I have a city. I have an army. I am not her."

"Then why do you smell like her?" he asked. He sniffed my neck. He was like a dog. "Wildflowers. And rain. But there is something else now. Something big. Something dark."

"It is called power, Valerius. You should try to find some," I hissed.

My heart went thump-thump-thump. The spark was jumping between our skin. It felt like a string was pulling my heart. It was a big ache. It hurt to be this close. I hated that I felt it. I hated that he still had a pull on me. He was a bad man. He was a killer.

"Who are you?" he asked. His eyes were dark. He looked like he was going to cry. "Tell me your name."

"I told you. I am the Queen of Shadows," I snap.

"No," he whispered. He squeezed my waist. "You are a ghost. You are here to haunt me. You are here to make me mad."

"Valerius!" a high voice screamed.

The dance stopped. I turned my head. Seraphina was there. She wore a red dress. It was very big. It had too much lace. She had many jewels on her neck and hair. Her face was red. She looked very mad.

"What are you doing?" she snapped. She grabbed Valerius’s arm. She looked at me like I was dirt on her shoe. "You are dancing with a stranger. You should be with me. I am your Luna!"

Valerius looked at her. He looked mad. He looked like he wanted her to go away. "I am being a good host, Seraphina," he growled.

"She is a monster!" Seraphina screamed. She looked at me. She poked my chest with her finger. "Go back to your holes, witch. We do not want your kind here. You smell like a Rogue."

"Seraphina, stop," Valerius hissed.

I did not move. I did not blink. I saw the fear in her eyes. She was scared. She did not know why, but she was scared of me. My wolf growled. She wanted to bite the finger.

"Your Luna is very loud. Does she ever stop?" I barked to Valerius.

"I am the boss here!" Seraphina screamed. She reached out. She wanted to push me.

She stopped. Her eyes went very big. She was not looking at my face. She was looking at my neck.

I was wearing a necklace. It was a gold bird with red eyes. It was an heirloom. It was very old. Five years ago, Valerius threw it in the dirt. He told me it was trash. He said an Omega could not wear a Queen's toy. He said it was too good for a girl like me. I found it in the mud before I ran away. I kept it to remind me of the hate.

Seraphina knew that necklace. She had asked for it for years. Valerius told her it was lost. He told her it was gone forever.

"That..." Seraphina whispered. Her voice shook. "Where did you get that?"

"It was in the mud. I like shiny trash," I barked.

Seraphina looked at the necklace. Then she looked at my eyes. She leaned in. She sniffed the air. She did not smell the ozone. She smelled the old scent of the Omega girl under the power.

She looked at my hands. She saw the small scar on my thumb.

"No," Seraphina breathed. She took a step back. She hit a table. Crash. A glass fell and broke. "No. It is not possible. You are dead. You died in the mist."

Valerius looked at her. "What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like a fool?" he growled.

Seraphina pointed a shaking finger at me. Her face was white. She looked like she had seen a monster from the woods.

"Valerius! Look at the necklace! Look at what she is wearing!" she screamed.

Valerius looked. He saw the gold bird. He saw the red eyes. He froze. He looked at me, then at the bird.

"I threw that away," he whispered. His voice was like a ghost. "I threw that in the trash five years ago. I saw it hit the dirt."

"Maybe you should be more careful with your trash. Some trash grows up," I barked.

Seraphina knew. She really knew. She saw the "dead" girl. She saw the truth. I could see her heart beating in her neck. She was terrified.

"It's you," Seraphina hissed. She was the only one who could hear. "You came back. You are the witch."

I smiled under my veil. It was a mean smile.

"I did," I breathed back.

Valerius was still looking at the necklace. He was trying to think. He was close. He was so close to knowing. He reached for the bird. He wanted to touch it.

I stepped back. Silas moved in front of me. He was like a wall of meat.

"The dance is over. The music is bad," I snapped. "I am tired of this room. It smells like old lies and cheap perfume."

I turned around. I walked away. My heart was fast. Boom-boom-boom.

"Wait!" Valerius shouted.

I did not wait. I walked through the big doors. I went into the dark hall.

I knew Seraphina was behind me. I knew she was shaking. She knew I was alive. She knew I had her King's heart in my hand.

The spark was still hot in my chest. Valerius looked like he was losing his mind. Seraphina looked like she was dying.

The game was getting very fun.

"Get the boy. We are leaving this room," I whispered to Silas.

"She knows," Silas said,

his voice low. "Now it gets dangerous."

I looked back at the bright ballroom, at the King staring through the crowd.

"Good," I said. "I like dangerous."