Chapter 53

Violet’s POV

I swallowed, turning to Theodore. My eyes were wide, but I did as I was told. My hands were so small and delicate looking in his, trembling subtly. He smiled at me as the smoke weaved around our hands, tying them together.

I wasn’t prepared for the jolt of awareness that went through me as the smoke became solid. My attention was narrowed to the man standing opposite me. Theodore’s presence seemed to fill the space between us, his gaze steady, his expression calm yet utterly serious.

The High Priest spoke over us, but his voice sounded so far away until he asked Theodore to give his oath.

“In fidelity,” he said. My heart lurched. “In love. In peace and war…”

His eyes were glowing as he spoke. I could feel the magic he was evoking with his oath. I wanted to tell him not to be ridiculous, swearing the first king’s oath of marriage now, here, with all these people watching would not serve him, yet I couldn’t help but be swayed. His voice was so full of sincerity. Every word of the vows passed through his lips feeling heavy with meaning, as if if they were being etched into something deeper than the air around us.

When it was my turn to speak, I was almost at a loss for what to say. My eyes burned with tears. I was lost, and yet something in me answered him.

“For life,” I said. His eyes widened as I repeated the oath back to him in reverse just as the first alpha king’s mate had done. They had been on the eve of war. “In health and sickness. In love and kindness… Entwined and in service. In peace and war…”

He smiled at me. A soft, tender look took over his face. His gaze locked with mine, unyielding and steady. The words resonated between us. I felt… conflicted. Wherever this urge to give him this vow was in me, it felt genuine, and yet I knew that this was just a contract marriage. It felt unfair and yet perfectly right.

When it was time for the exchange of marks, my heart pounded against my ribs. This part was different, primal. My neck throbbed, the mark of the unwanted pulsed. I could feel something in me reaching out to him.

I felt Theodore’s hands steady on my shoulders as he leaned closer, his breath warm against my skin. He dipped his head. A shiver ran through me as his teeth grazed the side of my neck, and I braced myself for the pain, yet there was none. I felt the pressure, but the puncture of it sent a rush of pleasure through me so sharp and sudden that my legs nearly gave out, but I managed to return the mark, sinking my teeth into the skin of his neck.

He panted heavily in my ear with a low, contented growl. What followed was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. A surge of magic erupted between us, bursting into a brilliant light that engulfed the altar and spilled into the crowd. Gasps of awe echoed around us, but I couldn’t focus on them.

The light expanded, blindingly bright, and in an instant, everything shifted.

Theodore

The world around me dissolved into a haze of color and sound, and I found myself somewhere far from the ceremony. It wasn’t the hotel, nor anywhere I recognized.

I stood in the heart of a dense forest, the air thick with the scent of pine and damp earth. The sound of rustling leaves filled my ears, but there was something else—footsteps. Heavy, deliberate, and growing closer.

Before me, two wolves emerged. One black as the deepest night, its fur rippling like shadows, and the other a gleaming silver, luminous even in the dim light. They circled each other, gliding with no attention for the world around them.

Us. It was us. I smiled, relieved that my instincts were right.

But then, the darkness came. A thick, malevolent shadow crept through the trees, reaching for the black wolf. The shadow was relentless, swirling around the black woits tendrils into the wolf’s fur and dragging it away. The silver wolf froze then took off with a mournful howl. aught in hesitation. Then, with a fierce snarl, it lunged forward, its fangs tearing into the shadow until it recoiled and dissipated.

The vision blurred, the forest fading, and I was pulled back to reality.

The light from the ceremony still swirled around us, bright and alive, but my focus sharpened on Violet. Her eyes glowed with a light I didn’t recognize, something otherworldly and ancient. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she gasped softly as the light began to dim, fading back into her brilliant gaze.

“Violet,” I whispered, my voice hoarse, but she didn’t seem to hear me. Her tears didn’t stop, and I couldn’t tell if they were from pain, relief, or something else entirely.

The High Priest’s voice cut through the quiet.

“You may now kiss your bride.”

The weight of his words hit me like a tidal wave. Bride. The word carried so much more now than it had just moments ago.

I cupped her face. She came so willingly, sweetly. The moment our lips met, the energy around us surged again, wrapping us in a cocoon of warmth and light.

Her lips trembled against mine, and I tasted the salt of her tears. But they weren’t tears of despair; they were something else entirely. I didn’t want to pull away. She melted into me, and maybe there was clapping around us, but it hardly mattered. When we parted, her breathing was shaky, her cheeks flushed. My thumb brushed away a stray tear, and for a fleeting moment, the world around us disappeared again, leaving only the two of us in the aftermath of something neither of us could yet understand.

“I…” I started to speak, but the words failed me. Instead, I kept my hand on her face, grounding us both in the reality of this strange, powerful bond we’d just forged.

She pressed her face against my hand. Her eyes fluttered closed. Then, I noticed the thin stream of silver swirling across her brow. She looked up towards mine. Then, I heard the whispers.

“Did you see that?”

“Mommy, it’s like the story,” Charlotte whispered loudly.

“It seems like the Goddess took offense to the Uncrowned King title.”

My eyes widened. Violet’s eyes darted up to my forehead, and I didn’t need to ask to know that there was a matching band of silver light around my head.

I pulled away, hoping that it would disappear sooner rather than later. We turned back to the hall. I couldn't shake the feeling of eyes boring into us from every direction. The ceremonial glow was slow to fade, but the charged energy lingered, buzzing faintly in the air around us.The crowd continued to murmur, willing the light to go away, but it wouldn’t budge in the air. The moonlit mist remained in the hall, drifting up in the air.

Then, I caught sight of the cameras stationed in the back of the room. I’d completely forgotten that I’d invited the press to attend.

Fuck.

Violet twined her fingers with mine, squeezing tightly. I looked at her and gave me a reassuring smile. She closed her eyes.

“Don’t let me fall.”

I blinked, wondering what she was talking about until Kincaid and Lily stretched a banner of cloth over the steps of the altar that fell, hiding the steps. I remembered, only briefly that this was the actual end of the full ceremony. I was meant to lead her in a jump over the stairs. It was so traditional, no one did it anymore. In the story of the first alpha king, he’d leaped from the altar to the entry of the ceremony in one bound with his bride and they’d been together until they’d died of old age. In general, the tradition went that the farther the jump, the longer the years together in fully traditional ceremonies like ours.

Her parents had done this, as had all of Tyron’s family.

Lucas and Violet hadn’t had a fully traditional ceremony.

I glanced over at Owen who looked like he was going to combust. I had clearly already pissed him off, so I might as well go all the way. I bent down and swept her into my arms. People cheered, hooting. Violet gasped, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Really?” She whispered. “The crown wasn't enough?”

“Don't you know by now that I'm a man who does nothing by halves?”

She smiled, leaning her head on my shoulder. “Yes… I suppose you aren’t.”

I grinned and took a leap aiming for just outside the main hall. When I landed, effortlessly the main hall burst into cheest. I chuckled and set her on her feet, twirling her around. She laughed, and it was perhaps the happiest sound I had ever heard her make.