Chapter 148 Celebration Pt. I

Chapter 148 Celebration Pt. I
The world was burning and Vikram was holding a wedding.

That was the thing Silena kept coming back to as she stood at the entrance of the makeshift aisle that someone had constructed overnight in the centre of the Islander camp, flowers sourced from somewhere and fabric hung between poles, the assembled people of the camp turned to look at her as she walked forward.

The world outside was genuinely coming apart. The news broadcasts had reached them through various channels in the days since the pack battle, the human response to the news was in no way good, take the raid on the Torres pack for example. They had heard all about it, yet, in the midst of it all Vikram had decided that what this moment called for was a wedding.

His wedding.

To her.

She didn't want that, yet here she was, walking down the aisle in the dress that had been produced from somewhere she didn't care to know, it was placed outside her tent that morning with the quiet certainty that it was never really been a gift, she put one foot in front of the other and maintained her stoic expression, she understood that refusing was not a real option.

She had spent days looking for another way out.

She'd turned every possibility over in her mind until there was nothing left to examine. She had imagined refusing. Running. Fighting. Begging. But every path ended the same way. Someone died. Someone she loved.

In the end, there had never really been a choice.

So she walked down the aisle toward a man wearing Maddox's face, a crown resting on his head, and a smile that said he'd already won.

The most painful part was Khan.

He was standing beside Vikram at the end of the aisle. Best man and ring bearer, both, which meant the person she trusted most in the world was the person handing over the ring, she looked at his face as she walked toward it and he looked back at her and the look on his face wasn't one of happiness.

It was the expression of a man who had weighed every consequence long before this moment, accepted each one, and decided to carry them anyway.

Silena did not look away from him until she reached the end of the aisle and had to.

She said her vows, her voice was flat. She just recited what had been given to her by one of the women who dressed her, she felt no attachment to such words. Vikram held her gaze, his ancient eyes betraying an age his body did not. A small smile touched his lips as he spoke his vows, calm and effortless, as though marriage was nothing more than another ritual he'd performed countless times before.

The ring went on her finger.

She looked at it.

She had no category for what she was feeling and no name for it and no outlet for it that was available to her in this moment, so she put it somewhere and kept her face neutral and let the ceremony finish.

The feast began almost as soon as the ceremony ended.

Long wooden tables had been pulled into the center of the camp, already overflowing with roasted meat, fresh bread, fruit, and steaming dishes Silena didn't recognize. Someone struck up music, and before long the quiet that had settled over the wedding dissolved into laughter, conversation, and the clinking of cups.

It was the first time in weeks she'd seen the pack smile.

People who had spent days preparing for war allowed themselves, if only for one evening, to breathe. The world outside was still changing. None of those problems had disappeared.

But for tonight, they chose to celebrate instead.

Silena sat beside Vikram at the head of the gathering, exactly where everyone expected their new queen to sit.

Plate after plate was placed before her.

She ate because refusing would invite questions she didn't have the energy to answer. She smiled when someone congratulated her. She thanked the women who wished her happiness. She nodded through conversations she barely heard.

It felt strangely easy.

Not because she was happy.

Because she'd become frighteningly good at pretending.

The noise around her faded into something distant. Voices blurred together until they became little more than background sound, and she found herself staring into her untouched cup more often than she looked at the people around her.

Her thoughts drifted back to something Vikram had said a few days earlier.

He hadn't been talking about flowers or guests or traditions.

He'd been talking about what the wedding itself would accomplish.

"After the ceremony," he'd told her, "this pack will become something no one has ever faced before."

He hadn't elaborated.

Only mentioned that some bonds couldn't be forged through blood or loyalty alone. They required something older. Something ceremonial.

Something permanent, Silena had almost asked what he meant.

Almost.

Instead, she'd let the conversation end.

At the time, asking questions had meant acknowledging that the wedding was actually going to happen. That she'd truly reached the point where marrying Vikram wasn't just a possibility—it was inevitable.

She hadn't been ready to face that so she'd pushed the words aside and now they returned to her.

She glanced briefly toward Vikram.

He looked perfectly at ease, speaking with several elders seated nearby. Every now and then someone raised a cup in his direction, and he answered with an easy smile before continuing whatever conversation he'd been having.

No one seemed confused or surprised, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that they hadn't understood his words any better than she had.

She remembered the expressions around the campfire when he'd first mentioned it. People had exchanged brief looks, a few frowned, one or two people had looked as though they wanted to ask a question.

None of them had. They wouldn't question their Raja.

He rarely explained himself beyond what he believed necessary. When he spoke, people listened. If he left something unanswered, they assumed there was a reason for it and carried on.

It wasn't fear that kept them silent, they trusted him or maybe had faith in him, whatever it was.

She looked around the celebration once more.

Children chased one another between the tables. Warriors laughed loudly over mugs of ale. Someone had started dancing near one of the bonfires, drawing cheers from everyone watching.

It looked like victory and it sounded like peace. Yet beneath it all, Silena couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was celebrating something they didn't fully understand.

Including her. Especially her.

Because somewhere beneath the laughter and music, beneath the congratulations and smiling faces, she couldn't stop wondering what, exactly, she had become the moment she'd said 'I do'.