Chapter 25 Unspoken Years
[Nyx]
The auction was held in the resort's grand ballroom, transformed for the evening into an elegant showroom of luxury items. Well-dressed attendees mingled around displays of art, jewelry, and rare artifacts, champagne glasses in hand. Lysander guided me through the crowd with a possessive hand at the small of my back.
"Lot number forty-seven," he whispered. "That's your mother's bracelet."
We collected our bidding paddle and found seats near the back of the room. As the auction proceeded, I grew increasingly nervous. What if we couldn't afford it? What if someone outbid us?
Lysander sensed my anxiety and squeezed my hand. "Don't worry. We'll get it."
When lot forty-seven was finally announced, my heart nearly stopped. There it was, displayed on a rotating pedestal under spotlights—my mother's bracelet, exactly as I remembered it from childhood.
"This exquisite silver and moonstone bracelet, believed to be from one of the old Alpha bloodlines, dates back at least three centuries," the auctioneer announced. "We'll start the bidding at fifty thousand."
The bidding began rapidly, with several paddles rising immediately. Lysander remained calm beside me, waiting as the price climbed higher. At two hundred thousand, many bidders dropped out. At three hundred thousand, only three paddles remained.
When the bidding reached four hundred and fifty thousand, Lysander finally raised our paddle.
"Five hundred thousand," he called clearly.
A murmur went through the crowd. One competitor immediately bowed out, but one remained—a thin man in the front row who seemed determined.
"Five-fifty," the man countered.
Lysander didn't hesitate. "Six hundred thousand."
My throat went dry as the numbers climbed. The thin man bid again, pushing the price to six-fifty.
"Seven hundred thousand," Lysander said, his voice betraying no strain.
The thin man hesitated, then slowly lowered his paddle.
"Seven hundred thousand going once... going twice... sold to paddle number twenty-eight!"
I could barely breathe as Lysander led me to the payment office. He handled the transaction without blinking at the enormous sum, signing documents and arranging for immediate collection of the bracelet.
"How did you—" I began, but he silenced me with a gentle touch.
"Not here," he murmured.
Only when we were back in our suite, with the bracelet safely in my hands, did I ask again.
"How could you afford this? It's a fortune."
Lysander sat beside me on the edge of the bed. "My parents left me more than just their legacy. I've been saving for something important." He smiled softly. "And this was important."
I stared at the bracelet in my hands, the moonstones glowing faintly in the dim light of our suite. "It's exactly as I remember," I whispered, running my fingers over the cool silver. "My mother wore it every day until..."
"Until she died," he finished gently when my voice trailed off. "May I?"
I nodded, extending my wrist. Lysander carefully fastened the bracelet around it. As the clasp clicked shut, I felt a strange warmth spreading from the moonstones into my skin, as if they recognized me.
"It belonged to the women in her family for generations," I told him, watching the stones shimmer. "She always said it would be mine when I was ready."
Lysander's fingers lingered on my wrist. "There's something inscribed on the inside," he said. "Have you noticed?"
I rotated the bracelet and saw a tiny symbol etched into one of the silver links. "I never saw this before," I murmured. "What do you think it means?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But I think your mother may have left more for you to discover."
The possibility sent a thrill through me. A connection to my mother, a piece of her returned to me, and perhaps a path to something more. All because Lysander had cared enough to pursue this instead of our wedding.
I looked up at him, truly seeing him for perhaps the first time. "Thank you," I said softly. "This means more to me than any wedding ceremony ever could."
His amber eyes warmed. "I thought it might."
The distance between us seemed to shrink as we sat together on the edge of the bed, the bracelet a silver bridge between our hands.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I finally asked the question that had been bothering me.
Lysander met my eyes with a directness that made my pulse quicken, something in his gaze more open than I'd ever seen before. "You want to know why?" he asked, his voice husky. "I've been watching you since I was twelve years old, Nyx Verdant."
"What?" I blinked in surprise.
He nodded, a soft smile playing on his lips. "You probably don't remember. You were six, visiting the training grounds with your father. All the other trainees were focused on impressing the Alpha, but I couldn't take my eyes off his silver-haired daughter with those fierce blue eyes."
The memory flashed in my mind—vague but present. "You were that boy? The one I pointed to?"
"You said I looked strong," he chuckled, his eyes warm with the memory. "Made me stand up straighter than I ever had before."
I stared at him, trying to reconcile this revelation with the years of distance between us. "But that was... that was nearly fourteen years ago."
"And then years later, I watched you at fifteen, taking down training instructors twice your size." His eyes grew distant, remembering. "You were extraordinary. Everyone knew you'd be the next Alpha."
"Until I wasn't," I said quietly.
"I was sent to the border when you were sixteen," he continued, his voice growing softer. "Lost my parents that first year. Spent three years fighting, leading, surviving. When I returned..." He hesitated. "You weren't the same. Neither was I."
Something in his voice made my heart ache. All this time, while I'd been spiraling into self-destruction, thinking no one truly saw me or wanted me for myself, he had been carrying this silent devotion.
"Why didn't you ever say anything?" I whispered.
"What was there to say?" He shrugged. "You were the Alpha's daughter. I was just a soldier. And then suddenly, I'm told I'm marrying you, and all I could think was that the universe had a strange sense of humor."
He moved closer, his hand coming up to brush a strand of hair from my face. "I've respected you longer than you know, Nyx. Wanted you longer than I should admit."
The intensity in his eyes sent heat cascading through my body. Without thinking, I leaned forward and kissed him, the bracelet cool against my skin as my hands found his shoulders. His arms wrapped around me instantly, pulling me against him as if he'd been waiting for this moment his entire life.
The kiss deepened, my fingers tangling in his hair as his hands slid down to my waist. The world narrowed to just sensation—his mouth on mine, his hands exploring with reverent urgency, the solid warmth of his body pressed against me.