Chapter 174: She Loved It Anyway

A servant stepped in carrying two velvet boxes on a tray, and the High Luna lifted a hand toward them.

"As a token of my apology, I wanted to present each of you with something."

Maria went for hers first. It was the larger of the two, wrapped in a wide satin ribbon, the box itself beautiful enough to be the gift. She tugged the ribbon loose and opened the lid, and inside sat a white-gold bracelet set with diamonds and sapphires that threw light the second it cleared the velvet.

"That," the High Luna announced, "is a Thunderfang piece from the vault. Four centuries old. It was commissioned for the Luna who held the pack through the Hollow Winter, worn by every High Luna since, and it has never once left these walls for a reason less than deserving." She folded her hands. "It may only be presented by the High Luna, and only to a Luna, Beta Luna, or Gamma Luna who has shown courage under duress. Real courage. Not the kind people claim after the fact." Her eyes settled on Maria. "You have shown it more than once, dear. In a burning keep, among other places. I noticed."

Nova couldn’t help the smile that pulled across her face, watching Maria’s eyes light up like a child’s. She wanted to clap for her but her shoulder prevented that so she clapped in her soul.

Tavian’s chest expanded watching Maria’s reaction the way a man’s chest expands when the woman he loves receives something she deserves and the giving didn’t come from him but he’s proud anyway.

Tavian took the bracelet from the box and fastened it around her wrist himself, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand when the clasp caught.

"Thank you, High Luna," Maria breathed.

A servant turned and offered the second box to Nova.

"Thank you," Nova said softly.

"Oh, I can’t wait to see what you got." Maria bounced in her seat, already leaning over. "Open it, open it."

Nova had a sinking feeling and hoped, genuinely, that she was wrong.

She lifted the lid. Inside, a pendant, the letters CTP worked into the gold, the T set largest so the whole thing read as a monogram.

Nova stared at it.

"Thank you, High Luna," she managed after a moment, not wanting to be rude and also wanting to understand the backstory to it.

If Nova wasn’t mistaken, those were Celeste’s initials, with the Thunderfang swapped in for the surname. Celeste Polara Thunderfang. A monogram for a wedding that was never going to happen, commissioned before anyone had learned what Celeste kept in her sleeves.

Beside her, Alpha Thunderfang had gone still, studying the pendant with his brows drawn together.

"Ooh, is there a story with Nova’s too? Let me see!" Maria plucked it out of her hands before Nova could stop her, holding it up to the firelight.

Tavian’s eyes moved from the pendant to Alpha Thunderfang’s face then back to the pendant.

"What does CTP mean, Gran?" Alpha Thunderfang asked after a moment.

Maria turned the pendant over, searching for an answer, and looked up.

"Oh." The High Luna waved a dismissive hand. "My apologies. That one wasn’t the correct gift."

The servant was already moving, hurrying out and returning with another box, stammering an apology to the High Luna as he came.

"No matter." The High Luna accepted it without concern. "She’ll be here in a bit to collect hers."

Maria handed the monogrammed pendant back to the servant. Neither Alpha Thunderfang nor Tavian so much as flinched at she’ll be here in a bit, so Nova kept her face smooth and filed the line away. She was missing something, and the two people most likely to know weren’t reacting, which meant it wasn’t news to them.

The servant presented the new box to Nova.

She opened it, and inside sat a dainty gold bracelet, delicate and understated and so beautiful it pulled the smile right back out of her.

"Thank you, High Luna. It is beautiful." She meant it, down to the floor. She didn’t own much of anything, let alone jewelry, and this was easily the finest thing that would have ever belonged to her.

The High Luna said nothing.

Nova wasn’t sure why. She glanced up, and for a fraction of a second the High Luna’s face flickered with something that looked a great deal like irritation before she smoothed it back into composure.

Alpha Thunderfang lifted the bracelet from the box. His thumb moved over something on the clasp, a quick practiced motion, and whatever it was disappeared into his closed fist before Nova could see it. By the time she turned her head, he was already fastening it around her wrist.

Behind her, Tavian had caught the motion. The palm. The pocket. The fastening. His eyes met Alpha Thunderfang’s for a fraction of a second and the fraction contained a conversation that Nova and by extension Maria would never find out about because if Maria knew, she would tell Nova.

"I love it," Nova said, beaming down at it.

Tavian looked at Nova’s wrist. Looked at Maria’s wrist. Looked at the High Luna.

"Yours is very pretty," Maria agreed. "Is there a story behind Nova’s too?"

"The gift shop in the hospital lobby, if you must know. They had a sale. I thought of her immediately."

Silence.

Nova’s smile faltered for a moment. It was from a gift shop. It didn’t matter. She still loved it. Outside of the jewelry Derek had given her, it was the first piece of jewelry she had been gifted, and she was not going to be offended by where it was from.

"Thank you for thinking of me, High Luna. Regardless of where it’s from, it is my favorite now. I’m keeping it."

"Well, I love it too." Maria clapped once. "SWATTED there or not, a beautiful piece is a beautiful piece."

Tavian looked at Alpha Thunderfang. Alpha Thunderfang was looking at his grandmother. The look on the Alpha’s face was the look a man wears when he is adding something to a list and the list is going to be discussed privately and the discussion is going to be unpleasant.