Then Bianca finally spoke, her eyes wide, staring at the necklace. “Is that what you did to the crown jewels?”
Veta froze. “What?” and looked over the necklace again. She blinked. Because sure enough, the stones were the ones from the Imperial Queen’s crown—the shapes were the same. Many different sizes of the gems, arranged in such an odd manner, it barely resembled the original, uniformed crown.
“I felt we all needed my mother here with us, in spirit,” the princess said as she stroked the gems.
Why Veta didn’t realize it at first, she didn’t know, but sure enough, those were the stones from Her Imperial Majesty’s crown, before her death, repositioned onto Caoimhe’s necklace to look like a bar of jewels in the oddest configuration.
“Veta, please, come here.” Caoimhe stroked the stones. “You have been by my side for over ten years, watching over my sister and me with perfect vigilance. My mother would have been so approving and honored of your well-done work. I give you this in her name. To honor her.”
And she removed a cluster of the stones—a large one centered by two smaller ones, fashioned into a bracelet.
“Allow me,” Caoimhe said.
Veta shook her head. “No, no, you don’t need to do this, Imperial Highness.” She didn’t need this—a piece of the Empress? No, she wouldn’t take that away from the princess.
Caoimhe met her gaze with her dark eyes. “I don’t need to do anything. I choose to honor you, as I believe my mother would have honored you.” She clamped the jewelry around her wrist.
It sparkled and shined and seemed very out of place on Veta’s wrist.
Veta tried to remove it.
And she couldn’t.
“It won’t come off.” How could she wear this? This wasn’t her. It wasn’t for her. She was just a commoner. An orphan, as far as that went. Someone who didn’t wear jewels.
“It is coded to you. No one, but you may wear it.”
Emotions overwhelmed her, and she swallowed it back down. Having seen the riches in the galaxy, and even worn them before, many times for a mission, she’d never kept such things.
They were the kind of things that were taken.
And Veta didn’t want anything that could be taken from her.
She ran her hand over the bracelet that was coded to her skin. Maybe this one would be harder to take.
It touched her deeply that the princess thought of her for this. “I’ve never…”
She patted Veta’s arm. “I know. And I thank you for all that you do.”
Veta stared at the bracelet and stepped away. She’d never been given anything so elegant—so important. Part of her wondered if there was more to it. Her training as a spy and operative always leaped to different possibilities.
And she wouldn’t put it past the princess to be so devious. Or at least, shrewd. Veta’s gaze slipped between the beautiful bracelet and watching Caoimhe give each woman in the room some piece of the necklace.
Intuition nibbled in her mind. It seemed odd that she shared these jewels with them. But she could not think of why.
Freya received a broach that she pinned inside her cloak. “That stings,” she said as she attached it.
“It is the coding. I am sorry if it is painful. It should only last a moment,” Caoimhe said.”
Freya nodded. “It is fine. I have never had jewelry coded to my body.”
“It is a new security measure some of the jewelry designers are using,” Eleanor said as she pinned a hair pin into her hair—her gift. “Cole has it in all of his new designs this year.”
“Cole, really?” Freya asked. “Must be something if Cole is doing it.”
Bianca received earrings, and she immediately put them on. “If I may, I don’t believe your mother would have chopped up her crown,” Bianca said. “Though these are quite beautiful.”
“I am pleased you all like them,” the Imperial Princess said, her gaze moving over everyone.
