Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 79 He Got The Necklace
**Ethan’s POV**
The maps on my desk were beginning to blur together. Mostly, I was thinking about the war efforts—but sometimes about other matters.
Rosalie. The baby. The letter.
I couldn’t think about it. I couldn’t let my mind go there, not at all…
She had made her request of me, and I needed to honor that and live my life the way she wished. Except, how could I be happy without her?
I looked at the maps again, concentrating on the new Xs we’d drawn forthe new attacks, trying to come up with a plan. It was late, and most of the others had long gone to bed.
So, I was surprised when there was a knock at my door.
At first, I thought perhaps I had imagined it. I looked up, waiting to see if I heard it again. Instead, the door opened just a bit, and Talon stuck his head in.
We hadn’t talked much since he’d told me the truth about Rosalie. I was angry at him, but I knew I really needed to be thinking about my own actions in this entire matter.
I wasn’t ready for that yet.
“What is it?” I grumbled at him, returning my eyes to the maps, pretending to be so busy, I could hardly spare the time to look up at him at all.
Talon came into the room quietly, moving like he was afraid I had been asleep or still was. He cleared his throat and stood in front of my desk.
I should’ve caught on right then and there that it was important.
I looked up at him. “What is it?”
“Alpha, from time to time, some traders come in from the islands. Even now, with the war going on, that still happens. One of them had some nice jewelry pieces…”
I was confused by what he was saying, but I decided to continue to listen.
“…Vicky decided to take a look at them because she thought she might find a necklace or bracelet or something to cheer up the little girl, Lily, whose mother is still missing…”
I listened to him drone on and on, still wondering what the h*ll any of this had to do with me. “And?” I asked him, finally losing all my patience.
“And… while Vicky was browsing the jewelry one of the traders had brought in… she found… this.” He pulled a piece of jewelry out of his pocket and held it out to me.
My eyes were a little unfocused from staring at the maps, so I wasn’t sure I was seeing the necklace correctly at first.
But after a moment of staring, I was certain I was seeing it. I would recognize that piece of jewelry anywhere.
It hung there in the shadows cast by the dim light from the lamp on my desk like a ghost, haunting me from beyond the grave, the gemstones catching the light and winking at me mockingly.
My hands flexed on the desk in front of me. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I also didn’t want to. I was afraid my fingers would fly right through it, like it was a hologram.
Looking up at Talon, I managed to ask him, “Wh-where did… he get it?”
Talon shook his head and drew the necklace back up into his fist. I hated that I couldn’t see it anymore, but then, it was for the best—for now. “He got it in Avondale from another trader. I want to show you first and see if you want us to investigate further.”
“Avondale…” I repeated. My heart began to pound in my chest as a thousand questions flooded my mind. How did it get there? Was it possible that she was still alive…?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Talon said, his voice calm. “Ethan… we found evidence that Rosalie is… gone, remember?” he asked me.
I nodded. Of course, he was right. It was stupid of me to think there was a chance that the young woman who sold the necklace could be Rosalie.
Besides, there were a million other explanations for how the necklace could’ve gotten there.
“Anyway, Vicky bought it for you. She thought you would want it. I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if having it around would … keep you from… moving on.”
Moving on. Those were two words I couldn’t wrap my mind around.
I did know that I needed to have the necklace, though. I’d carried Rosalie’s letter around in my pocket for so long without even opening it, why wouldn’t I want the necklace?
I stuck my hand out, and Talon dropped the necklace in my palm.
The moment her necklace touched my skin, I felt a chill run down my spine.
This was her necklace, something she’d touched. Something she’d worn around her neck. Something she’d kept close to her heart. Something she’d had with her when she’d….
I put it in my pocket. “Thanks, Talon. You can go.” I dismissed him with a wave of my hand.
He didn’t go right away, though. He just stood there, staring at me.
Sighing, I looked up at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I just… are you all right? I mean, I know that you have a lot of work, and there’s the stress of the war, and you have been eating and sleeping better, but there’s so much going on—”
I cut him off. “I’m fine, Talon.” This wasn’t the first time I’d had this conversation with him. “I like your short and sweet reporting style better.”
I gave him another dismissive wave. He seemed to be a bit shocked at my comments. It had been a while since I made any comments outside of work or… her.
Talon finally left.
Once he was gone, I took a moment to look at the necklace and remembered how beautiful Rosalie had looked when she’d had it on. Her eyes had twinkled, and she’d been so surprised.
It had been one of my favorite memories of her.
And it had also been one of my last memories of her.
With the necklace still in my hand, I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. For just a moment, I let my mind go to a place it shouldn’t.
I imagined Rosalie, obviously alive, and dressed in a cute sundress, her stomach a bit bigger than it was the last time
I’d seen her. She was walking along with a beach bag flung over her arm, a carefree smile on her face.
She walked into a pawnshop and plunked the necklace down on the counter. “I need to sell this,” she said.
Just like that, she’d traded her last memory of me for cash and went on about her business, that smile still on her face.
And why not?
Why should she keep any memories of me?
She knew what I intended to do to her, so why wouldn’t she want to get rid of everything there was to remind me of her?
I would’ve traded anything for that to happen- for her to finally have her own life, her free life.
I shook my head, reminding myself that it was a stupid fantasy anyway. Rosalie hadn’t taken her necklace to a pawnshop because Rosalie was dead. We’d found evidence of her death.
I’d seen her fling herself over the edge of the cliff. The fact that I was holding something that had once belonged to her didn’t change any of that.
All this did was open a wound, rip open a scab, take me back several weeks in time to when Rosalie had first disappeared.
I sat there at my desk with my head in my hands, trying to get myself together. My hand touched my pocket, where her letter lay. She never knew that she had her magical healing power that no one else held – even if she only existed in my memory.
Sometimes, the weight of the war and all of its repercussions, mingled together with the pain I was feeling, radiating from my heart, out through every fiber of my being, was almost too much for me to handle. I wanted to ram my fist through a wall or knock my desk over and scatter my maps and notes all over the floor. However, as long as I pulled out her letter, I felt I could make it through, because that was her wish.
It was late, and I had been working too hard, so I decided to go outside and get some fresh air. I walked automatically, without thinking to the cliffs, and before I realized it, I was standing on the edge, the water swirling beneath me, the wind stirring my hair, cooling my heated skin.
The necklace was wound around my hand. I took it out and looked at it again. The jewels were dazzling in the moonlight. I tried to remember if I’d seen it around Rosalie’s neck as she’d stood right here. In the image in my head, I could see her tears, her outstretched arm, and then, her body as it hung in the air, but I couldn’t remember seeing the moonlight catch the stones as it was right now.
That didn’t mean anything. I wasn’t focused on the necklace.
I held it out over the edge of the cliffs and watched it twinkle. Dropping it now could mean it would make its way right back to the islands via the current, which was probably how it had gotten there last time. Either that or some lucky treasure hunter had found it on the cliffs and taken it to the pawnshop.
There was no point in throwing it in—the necklace would just keep coming back to me.
Just like my thoughts of Rosalie.
They would never, ever go away.