Ch. 19：The Queen's Trick

I was never one to follow the gossip of the royal family as I was far away enough for their actions not to affect me, living in a remote and small pack, but it did not mean I was completely ignorant of the rumours surrounding the queen.
I’d often heard that she was a harsh woman who frequently had her maids whipped and some of them had their hands cut off for something as small as serving her cold tea. She became evil to all her workers after her closest maid betrayed her by sleeping with her mate and bearing him a son.
I never had cause to doubt the rumours but I now had firsthand experience of how cruel she could be.
“Did you not get the necklace I sent you for the ceremony?” She asked me, sitting in the room I now shared with Killian. She had her feet crossed as if she owned the place and the maid she brought with her stood to the side with her head bowed and her hands clasped and quivering in front of her.
“I got it, thank you.” Her sudden appearance made my hands clammy but I hid them, pretending not to be terrified of her. She smiled at me as if she could read my thoughts.
“So why are you not wearing it?” She asked, her smile widening as the colour drained from my face bit by bit. “Or do you not like it? It belonged to Killian’s mother so I felt you would want to wear it on this special occasion.” Beside me, Sabrina shuffled on her feet. “As she won’t be here to witness her son get crowned as the Alpha King, don’t you think it would be symbolic for you to wear something of hers today?” I bit my lips, forcing my bouncing knees to stay still. Her words were simple and courteous but I knew better.
Yesterday, a maid from the queen’s palace came with a box of jewellery for me. I would not have paid any attention to the box since I thought it was another piece of jewellery the queen sent me to try bribing me to leave Killian. However, once Sabrina saw the necklace, she lost all the colour on her face. The box fell from her hand and a simple black necklace with a hazel-coloured bead in the middle rolled out.
I did not know what it was, but my maid told me it was a slave choker. Only recently did the king completely eradicate slave trade amongst wolves even though it had been decades since slave trade became outlawed. Up until two decades ago, omegas were traded the same way people traded cattle.
“I have dressed already and the ceremony starts in a few minutes so I don’t have the time to change my accessory.” I gave a weak excuse but again the queen smiled.
“Nonsense.” She waved a hand. “Today is as much about you as it is about Killian. You have become the talk of the kingdom for the past two weeks. Everyone wants to meet the palace maid that would be our queen one day so who cares if you enter a bit late?” She clapped her hand and her maid stepped forward. “Help the future queen change her accessory,” she said.
My accessories were simple, the diamond necklace and earrings I purchased in Killian’s name, and three bracelets that Sabrina gifted me for the ceremony. It wasn’t as if I was decorated in jewellery that would take hours to get off but I was not about to take off my diamond necklace to wear a slave’s collar.
“I don’t want to,” I muttered, pushing aside my mounting anxiety.
“Are you refusing to wear something so dear to your late mother-in-law?” Her eyes laughed at me as she spewed rubbish. “Or do you want to wear it with your diamond necklace? It would be a beautiful symbolism if you wore them together.”
An omega wearing a slave choker and a diamond necklace would be truly symbolic. A nobody climbing the ladders she was not qualified to climb. I would look like a fool. It was what she wanted; to humiliate Killian and I on the day of his coronation by wearing a slave choker, reminding the world that his mother was a slave who climbed a ladder she was not qualified to climb and that he was a man in a position he was not qualified to be in.
She wanted to ruin a day as important as this and she had the boldness to smile and pretend she was doing it for selfless purposes.
“You know, Martha was my good friend and of all the people in this palace, I knew her best. I gave her the name Martha because it was a name I wanted to answer in my childhood. Believe me when I say that she would be thrilled if you wore something so important to her on her son’s big day.”
“I don’t want to wear it. Isn’t that what matters? Despite –“ The air turning cold shut me up. “ I don’t – I –“
“I have given you so many choices that you seem to have forgotten your place,” she hissed. “Patricia, bring the necklace and help this child dress.” She addressed her maid.
“W – Where is the necklace, m - my lady?” Patricia stuttered. The poor girl had marks decorating her exposed arm and she moved with an obvious fear of the queen.
“I’m sorry,” Sabrina shouted. She had been silently fidgeting beside me but suddenly, she stepped forward and fell to her knees, her forehead touching the ground. “I received the box yesterday but – but I misplaced it.”
“What?” The queen asked in a frigid tone. I shivered at the look in her eyes. “Who are you and what are you saying?”
“I – I –“ Sabrina stuttered, her entire body shivering on the ground.
“Speak up and don’t waste my time!” The queen shouted. “Where is the choker?”
“It – I was admiring the necklace when I received it but it fell and – I – “ It was an obvious lie since I already said I received it. It touched me that Sabrina was trying to cover up for me but we both knew that while the queen would be careful in dealing with me, her punishment for a ‘mere maid’ would be too severe for the fragile girl to bear.
“It’s okay, Sab, I – “ The girl shouted before I completed my sentence.
“I misplaced the necklace and – I – I reported the incident and my lady – my lady is now trying to cover for me. I didn’t – I didn’t know it was such an – an important item. Please, punish me! It is all my fault!” She pressed her head harder to the ground.
“You dare stand before your queen and utter lies?” The queen’s cold snarl resonated around the room. “Do you want your tongue cut off?” My mouth fell open but Sabrina was nodding already.
“Please, punish me how you see fit, Your Majesty. It is –“ My heart quivered as she shook on the ground.
“Patricia, get the guards!’ The queen shouted. “Let them take this rat to the dungeons and cut off her lying tongue!”
“No!” I found myself on my feet shielding Sabrina before Patricia left the room.
“I found the necklace already and I will – I will wear it.” My voice shook. “Sabrina wasn’t lying so you can’t – you can’t have her tongue cut off!” I exclaimed, spreading my arms as if to ward off anyone that may come to drag Sabrina away.
“Very well,” the queen muttered with a drawl, her eyes which were burning with rage seconds ago turned clear. “Change. You should be leaving soon.”
“Y – Yes.” I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I’d played right into the queen’s trap. With shaky hands, I reached into a drawer and pulled out the old and faded box. Sabrina took the necklace from me and with tears in her eyes, she fastened it around my neck.
The choker fit snuggly against my throat and the queen’s eyes sparkled when she saw it on me. Sabrina was about to put away the diamond necklace when the queen stopped her.
“No, let her wear the two.” No one argued with her words. She was still the queen, the greatest authority in the kingdom for the next few hours.
She left the room, her attire sweeping the ground and glittering as she moved. Two men came to escort me to the coronation banquet once she left and like a moth to a flame, their eyes were drawn to the slave choker on my neck. They blanched for a second but said nothing as they led me from the room to the banquet.
There was no one to announce my presence, after all, I was still a nobody who hadn’t mated with the prince yet. The first people I noticed when I entered were Scarlett and the queen. Their gazes burned into my skin, their eyes mocking me.
As I moved into the throne room, I raised my chin, refusing to cower. Then I caught the prince’s gaze. He was looking around with a bored expression on his face as a fat and bald man delivered a speech. His gaze was immediately drawn to my neck and his bored expression turned dark in the blink of an eye.