Chapter 593
I was stunned beyond words.
I looked at Xaden’s fingertips intertwining with my hair, and he was right!
My hair was red again.
I gasped and grabbed the hair.
“No no no.” I complained as I touched my hair, trying to see if any parts still retained black.
There wasn’t any.
At least none that I could see, and I began to panic.
The jewelry that Hildegard and Nanny Nia had used to style my hair fell, crumbling down to the floor.
I continued fussing over my hair.
But Xaden caught my hand in a firm and yet gentle manner.
“No,” Xaden said to me. “You need to stop.”
He brought my hand back down.
“You’re ruining your beautiful hair, do.” He told me.
I went red.
I looked down and saw that most of the jewelry had fallen to the floor.
All the hard work both women had thrown in, just for me to make an absolute mess of it.
Xaden was right.
I needed to stop.
I sighed and let my hand down.
I couldn’t even understand it.
How had my hair reverted from black to red?
Especially so quickly without me even noticing.
It was baffling.
If Nanny Nia and Hildegard had seen it, they would have mentioned it.
And Nanny Nia had said that the ingredient was potent enough to even hide royalty’s hair color from fading.
And yet in barely a day, my hair had reverted to its color.
Was this a sort of curse?
Now I understood why Bill had called me royalty.
He had seen my hair and assumed I was a member of the royal family.
I was trying to get off of the King’s radar and anyone else’s.
Impersonating a member of the royal family wasn’t a good idea.
“It’s okay, Jasmine,” Xaden said very softly.
I looked up at him, and I felt peace.
I felt so safe.
The way he said my name.
The way he assured me.
I gave a weak sigh and accepted it.
He held my hand again and continued to dance with me.
“Why did you give me the necklace?” I asked.
It had been on my mind for so long now.
He gave a slight shrug. “I assumed it would be perfect on you.”
I didn’t want to bring the past back.
I really hated to.
But if I wanted my peace of mind and clarity, it was going to be necessary in this conversation.
“Xaden, this is the necklace that you I choked on my own words, unable to speak.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
“This is the necklace you accused me of stealing.” I finally managed. “I’m sorry if I might seem ungrateful to you right now, but.”
I sighed again.
“It gives me bad memories,” I told him.
He went quiet, still dancing with me.
“Say something,” I said quietly.
But he said none.
In fact, he seemed to be terrified of even using his own words.
I closed my eyes in exhaustion.
“Moreover, it’s Anna’s,” I explained.
“It’s my mother.” He finally spoke.
“But it’s a family heirloom,” I informed him. “It’s supposed to be for the women in your family. That’s more reason why it should belong to her.
“So you don’t like it as a gift?” He asked me.
“I don’t want it,” I stated plainly.
He winced.
I chewed my bottom lip. “I didn’t mean it like that, Xaden. I just… I don’t I’ll hand it over to you after tonight.”
“Keep it, it’s yours.” He said.
I raised a brow.
This jewelry could buy an entire pack, if not two.
It was a family heirloom, and yet he wanted to give it to me?
When he obviously had a sister to whom it belonged.
“So you believe me now?” I asked him. “You believe that I never lied to you? That I never tried to hurt you.”
Xaden said nothing.
My knees felt weak.
I was disappointed.
Who was I kidding?
Xaden was ALWAYS going to be Xaden.
Never going to believe me.
Even after what we had gone through.
“I’ll hand it to you after tonight,” I said.
“I said it’s yours.” He growled.
It hurt me.
That he wouldn’t speak on things I wished to talk about.
Only things that struck or defeated his ego.
“Even if you don’t accept it, I’ll give Anna,” I told him. “I will not take what doesn’t belong to me, Xaden. You still see me as a thief and a liar. That’s confirmation enough.”
“Jasmine.” He sighed, exhausted. “That’s not what I mean.”
I attempted to pull myself away from his grasp, but he held onto me.
This time, I didn’t mind screaming.
Before I did, the music slowly died down.
I paused, and the King and Queen themselves came down from their thrones.
The couples on the dance floor began to move back.
Xaden caught my waist and led me down to the sides.
“Thank you, everyone.” The Queen began. “For coming to witness my granddaughter’s first shifting ceremony.”
“Years ago.” Queen Rose began. “I lost my daughter. It was the worst thing that ever happened to my husband and me. The whole wolf world mourned. It broke me as a Queen. A few weeks ago, we discovered that my daughter had survived for years. Those years I had never experienced with her. Unfortunately, she died without us ever seeing her.”
There was a collective gasp of sadness in the crowd.
The Queen smiled even though I could tell there were tears in her eyes.
She cleared her throat. “But she left something for us. Something for us to remember her by. She left us with her daughter, my granddaughter. I give you Princess Auburn.”
The crowd erupted into applause.
Princess Auburn appeared, all smiles, as she headed to where her grandparents stood.
Auburn curtseyed in front of everyone.
“She would perform her first official shifting as a wolf before everyone.” Queen Rose said.
Auburn stepped forward, and soon all the lights in the room went dark.
The light of the moon appeared over Auburn.
I looked up and saw it was an opening in the windows, directly reflecting on her.
And then she began to shift.