The Beta Queen

Chapter 6

I shouldn't have put it on, I shouldn't have even picked it up but the moment I did all these little memories I had forgotten began racing through my mind. I wondered where the other two charms were, but that was a fleeting question quickly overtaken by others.

Perhaps Dale had come back, maybe he had left it here as a sign. A small smile flitted onto my face, as I flirted with the possibility that he might be close by- that we could be reunited. It was gone as quickly as it came, it wasn't the kind of thought that I should be entertaining. This was probably mere coincidence. Perhaps it was a gift from a secret admirer, one of my guests. Yet I couldn't shake Dale's eyes from my mind, his smile as I gifted him a simple chain with three little gems.

My fingers tingled as I prepared to remove it from my neck, only to be interrupted by a knock. The door opened slowly as I gave the person behind it permission to enter. Melina's pale face peeked through, followed by her slight body, as usual she had a book under her arm and her facial expression exuded a peaceful facade. She said nothing as she strolled across the room and sat on the edge of my bed.

"That's a pretty necklace" she commented smoothing out her dress

I rubbed the smooth face of the gem, nodding in agreement.

"Cara is spending some time with her father" she said after a few moments of silence

I stared at her unable to do anything but play with the necklace, I mentally shook my head after a while aware that she was expecting an answer.

"Yes, I was hesitant at first but he seems like a good man. Besides when have I ever been able to stop Cara from doing what she wants"

Melina's lips twitched in a slight smile, being Cara's best friend she knew this better than perhaps even myself. Silence fell once again and I couldn't resist returning to the necklace once more it had almost become soothing, at once clearing my mind and filling it.

"Izarra?"

I looked up again, disturbed by how quickly I was becoming distracted. Melina looked hesitant a trait that I rarely associated her with. She was reserved but hardly tentative, she pursed her lips as though she was preparing for something. I moved my hands away from neck and moved to sit next to her, she had begun to look at the floor.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up at me slowly, her mouth twitching a few times before she finally said something.

"I think Marcus is alive"

The two of us were suspended for a while, me in shock and her in expectation. I had searched for Marcus after my coronation, looked everywhere but he was nowhere to be found. Part of me hoped that he was still alive but I also wondered that maybe when I'd killed the King he had died too.

"What makes you think that?"

Melina didn't say anything but simply handed me a tiny blue stone, in the palm of my hand it looked small and ordinary, nothing more than a pretty stone one might find randomly as it glinted in the light. However the way Melina was looking at it made me realise it's significance. Her eyes looked teary as she stared at it.

"Before Marcus became a Lycan I gave him a pouch of pretty stones I'd collected. This was the first one I found. I didn't think anything of it, until today"

She reached behind her and pulled out a silk pouch, it was slightly tattered and the red colour was faded but there was no mistaking the royal seal on it or the embroidered M. Inside there were more tiny coloured stones. I looked down at my lap, goosebumps rising with the thought that two people who had seemingly disappeared were suddenly leaving trails.