Chapter 2: Theatrics could save your life

Too much is tied up to this wedding….and it's all my fault. I'm the one who pushed for it and wanted to make political alliance and end this war between our two kingdoms even after being told by my mom to marry out of love but I was convinced by my fiancé that he loved me and thought I was marrying out of love . 

 I just want to run into my mom's arms and cry my heart out, but if I do that?. She's going to tell my dad, the King ….Allaster Snow, the strongest and bravest Alpha in the whole wide world and he would rip my disgusting fiancé's heart out right from his chest and tear his body into shreds without thinking twice.

 But that would start a war between the two kingdoms.

 I ran darting through the shadowed hall with my heart still pounding from the conversation i had overheard. My mind spun, my world was shattering right before my eyes and I can't do anything about it but even in the chaos, a dry voice in the back of my head whispered, "Of course, Kayla. Your future husband wants to use you like a magical battery. Could be worse. He could've asked for your shoe size first."

 I shook my head and pressing my hand against my mouth to suppress a devastated and mocking laugh. I had been through countless royal lessons about duty and decorum, but there had never been a chapter on 'What to Do When Your Betrothed Plans to Steal Your Power and Conquer the World.'

 Maybe that could've been useful.

 As i turned another corner, i collided into Maris, my personal maid, who was carrying an armful of flowers while tripping and falling flat on my face groaning in pain. Maris looked down at me with wide shocked eyes and her jaw falling open.

 "Your Highness! Wh….What…..why are you…"

 No time for questions!" I hissed, grabbing Maris by the arm ,standing up and dragging her to the side while dusting myself. "I've got bigger problems than floral arrangements right now."

 Maris blinked, trying to process the whirlwind that was me. "Bigger problems than a wedding? That's… surprising." Her lips twitched, unable to fully suppress her sarcasm.

 I shot her a look that says that I wasn't in the mood for jokes right now while half amused. "I overheard Kieran talking with his advisors. He doesn't just want to marry me….he wants to control me. As in, magical control. He thinks I'm some sort of… superpowered key to world domination."

 Maris stared at me for a long moment. Then, with the seriousness only a maid in a royal household could muster, she said, "That *does* sound like a bigger problem."

 I huffed, folding my arms around my chest and tapping my fingers on alternate arms. "Thank you for the understatement. Now, I need to figure out a way to escape before the wedding ceremony turns into a power-draining nightmare."

 Maris shifted her weight, glancing at the large bouquet of roses she was still holding. "I could hide you in the flower cart. It's dramatic, but we could get you out of the palace."

 I snorted disheartened. "Right. Because I'd go totally unnoticed wrapped in chrysanthemum."

 Maris raised an eyebrow. "You'd be surprised. Nobody questions florists. It's the only thing people take more seriously than weddings."

 I have always been very different right from time. Even as a child, I'd felt a strange pull toward the moonlit nights, as though something ancient and powerful stirred in my veins. Maybe because I was a pure blood born on the day of the moon goddess.

 Now, standing in the dim corridor with Maris, i felt the weight of my destiny closing in on me like an iron cage with no where to run to or escape. But if Kieran thought I'd just roll over and let him take control of my powers, he had another thing coming.

 Loud classical music played in the grand hall which was decorated with golden decorations as its highlights as if trying to show off that we were royalties ,conversations flowing and buzzing with anticipation as the ceremony was about to begin an hour later after I overheard my fiancé's conversation. Kieran stood at the dais, looking every bit the perfect prince, his dark eyes gleaming as he scanned the crowd. He was waiting for me.

 The guests murmured as the doors at the far end of the hall opened, and i stepped through. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed that all eyes were on me. I've always faced crowds which was part of my princess training but this felt different. It felt like a prelude to the calamity that was about to befall me after I got married.

 Instead of walking gracefully toward the altar, i intentionally stumbled upon my myself. I heard the guests gasped as i swayed, and I dramatically cried out in pain as though I was really hurt holding my head with my two hands.

 "I—I think I—" i muttered, loud enough for the entire hall to hear. "I think I'm allergic to these flowers…"

 I then let out a loud, exaggerated sneeze that echoed through the room. I contorted my face, and dramatically wilted toward the ground, clutching my chest. "The… the pollen… I can't…"

 I could sight Maris, hiding just out of sight, grinned from ear to ear, clutching a fresh bouquet of lilies — which she had carefully sprinkled with ground-up herbs to mimic a mild allergic reaction. The scene was working perfectly.

 I faced up looking at my fiancé , his expression shifting from confusion to frustration while I laughed deeply inside. "Kayla, are you—"

 Before he could finish, the entire room was thrown into chaos. The royal physicians rushed toward me, people whispered anxiously, and servants shooing away the flowers with a level of seriousness normally reserved for fires.

 Sometimes, theatrics could save your life.

 In the midst of the mayhem, my personal maid quickly came to meet me. "You highness, are you alright?, let's go up to your room so you can rest and calm down," she said pulling me to the side but instead i sprung up drifting swiftly out from their midst towards the hallways with my maid yelling my name behind me.

 I sobbed as I ran, totally confused as to what to do because obviously the wedding was still going to hold after the mayhem had died down. And suddenly, as I turned around a familiar corner, I knew exactly where I was going to go and where I wanted to be. I increase my steps hurriedly, dashing for the only white and silver door in the hallway ,shoving it open with all my might.

 The door bangs hard against the wall and as shoved it open and stumbled into the room. My brother Sebastian and cousin Finn looked up at me with wide eyes shocked to the bone, both of the jaws falling open.

 "I can't go through with this marriage,"I gasp, falling back against the door holding the handle in a dramatic manner. Tears ran down my eyes smudging my mascara messing up my face.

 "Kayla," Sebastian gasps,sprinting towards the door where I was and pulling me away into his arms, pushing the door shut. "What the hell happened?"

 Sebastian and Finn didn't attend the wedding because I knew that they didn't like Kieran and just never had a rapport with him plus they had just been accepted into all boys institution…The Silverclaw academy …and they had to pack their bags to leave at dawn.

 Finn stands and takes me by the hand , leading me to the couch as I told them everything that transpired right from when I heaves dropped till the wedding in stuttering sobs with mucus flowing freely from my nostrils. Finn sits next to me, nodding and listening to my every word,but Sebastian stands by my side, a deep growl growing in his chest as my story progressed. By the time I finished, his whole body was tensed and shaking almost as though he was going to storm out of the room to kill my fiancé.