Chapter 74 Echoes of Mourning
Lila entered Celeste's old room slowly and was stunned by what she found. The room was immaculate, tidy and neat and perfectly arranged as though someone kept it clean on a daily basis.
Every surface gleamed with fresh polish. The bed was made with crisp linens that looked like they'd been changed that morning. Fresh flowers sat in a crystal vase by the window, their scent filling the air with something sweet and sad at the same time.
Ahead stood her mother directly in front of Celeste's largest painting, the one that dominated the entire wall and drew the eye no matter where you stood in the room.
It was the portrait from Celeste's twentieth birthday celebration, commissioned by their father and painted by the most famous artist in five kingdoms.
Celeste looked breathtaking in the image, so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her for too long.
She wore a princess gown of deep emerald silk that brought out the green in her eyes. Her golden hair cascaded over her shoulders in perfect waves that caught the light.
Her smile was radiant and confident, showing none of the bitterness that would come later after her marriage to Adrian.
Celeste was everything called beautiful under the sun and moon, blessed by the Goddess herself with looks that made people stop and stare wherever she went.
Lila had always respected that about her sister, had never resented the beauty that came so naturally while she remained plain and forgettable.
"Mother!" Lila called out faintly as she took in what her mother was wearing.
Mourning robes. Deep black fabric that marked profound and ongoing grief. The kind of garment worn for months after losing someone precious, someone whose absence left a hole that could never be filled.
It had been a month since Celeste's death and their mother still wore those robes like they were the only thing holding her together.
That explained everything about the palace's atmosphere, why the halls stood empty and the servants moved like ghosts and the whole building felt frozen in the moment of tragedy.
"Are you okay?" Lila's voice came out calm and small, gentle in a way she'd learned to use around her mother's volatile moods. "I couldn't find Father anywhere. Where is he?"
At that moment her mother turned away from Celeste's portrait and faced her younger daughter.
Lila gasped before she could stop herself, the sound escaping her throat unbidden and shocked.
Her mother looked ancient in a way that had nothing to do with actual age and everything to do with grief that had physically manifested in her body.
She appeared older than the last time Lila had seen her by at least a decade. Her face was pale and drawn, the skin hanging looser on bones that seemed more prominent than they should be.
Deep lines carved paths from her nose to her mouth, from the corners of her eyes across her temples. Dark circles shadowed her eyes like bruises that would never heal.
But worse than any of that was her hair. The golden locks that Celeste had inherited, that had been their mother's pride and joy, were now streaked with white.
Not the distinguished silver of graceful aging but stark white like fresh snow, the color of profound shock and grief so deep it had literally changed her on a cellular level.
The white streaks ran through the gold like lightning strikes, transforming her from the beautiful woman Lila remembered into someone who looked like she'd aged thirty years in thirty days.
Celeste had carried their mother's coloring perfectly, the golden hair and strong features and regal bearing that marked queens and princesses.
Lila had inherited their father's copper-red hair instead, along with his slight frame and quiet demeanor. But she hadn't gotten his wolf, that magnificent white royal beast that marked Moonstone's ruling bloodline.
Their mother had a huge golden-brown wolf, powerful and beautiful and everything a Luna should be.
Only Lila stood different with her timid Red whose copper-red coloring made people whisper and stare and call her cursed even before Adrian's bond had given them real reason to use that word.