The house had never felt this quiet.
Velora stood in the middle of her room, staring at her reflection.
Caspian.
Velora.
Two names.
Two lives.
Both cracking at the edges.
Downstairs, her parents were pretending everything was normal.
But she saw it.
The way her mother watched her hands.
The way her father noticed every late return.
The silence during dinner had weight now.
And then—
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Her heartbeat slowed instead of rising.
Because she knew.
"They're here," the ghost whispered.
His voice was no longer distant.
It was closer.
Deeper.
Possessive.
Velora's jaw tightened.
"They wouldn't dare."
A sudden crash downstairs.
Glass shattering.
Her mother screamed.
Everything inside her snapped.
She didn't run.
She transformed.
Caspian disappeared.
Velora stepped forward.
Cold. Focused. Deadly.
By the time she reached the living room, masked men had already surrounded her father.
One of them laughed.
"So this is the house of the ghost's favorite queen?"
Her eyes darkened.
"Wrong move."
Before the first bullet could fire, she moved.
Fast. Precise.
She disarmed one.
Kicked another.
But there were too many.
A blade grazed her shoulder.
Blood trickled down her arm.
Her mother gasped.
Her father shouted her name—
"Caspian!"
And that moment.
That single word.
It made everything real.
They were seeing her.
Not just a daughter.
But something else.
A shadow moved behind the attackers.
Silent.
Unseen.
Necks snapped.
Guns dropped.
One by one.
The ghost had entered the war.
Velora didn't look at him.
But she felt him.
Anger.
Jealousy.
Fear.
Possession.
"They touched your family," he said lowly.
Her breathing was uneven now.
"They crossed a line."
When the last attacker fell, silence returned.
Heavy.
Dark.
Her parents were staring at her.
Not just scared.
Suspicious.
Her father's eyes moved to her stance.
To the way she held the weapon naturally.
"That's not self-defense," he said slowly.
"That's training."
Velora froze.
For the first time—
She didn't have an excuse ready.
Later.
Her parents were safe upstairs.
But the doubt was alive now.
Irreversible.
She stood alone in the hallway when the ghost appeared fully this time.
Not just a voice.
A presence.
Close enough that she could feel cold air against her skin.
"You can't hide much longer," he murmured.
Her voice was steady, but softer than usual.
"What do you want me to do? Let them know their daughter is a war?"
His hand almost touched her cheek—
Almost.
"But you let other men touch you."
There it was.
The jealousy.
Even now.
Even here.
Her eyes flickered.
"That still bothers you?"
"You never let me."
Her heartbeat skipped.
Silence stretched.
He leaned closer—
Close enough that she could feel something that wasn't entirely air.
"Velora—"
He stopped himself.
Her eyes widened slightly.
He almost said it.
The name.
The real one.
But he swallowed it.
Instead, his fingers finally brushed her jaw.
Cold.
But burning.
"You are mine in every world," he said.
And this time—
She didn't pull away