Chapter 7

Simone watched through the corner of his eyes as Roxanne and Cecile chatted heartily like they were old friends.He was surprised and also suspicious.

Cecile was not one to be nice towards Russo’s ladies. If anything, she always gave them sly murderous gazes when they're not looking.

There was absolutely no reason for her to be nice towards Roxanne now, especially since Russo had ignored her for Roxanne. He also knew he had to be more vigilant now that Roxanne had the mark of the cup on her.

“Thank you so much for making breakfast so much fun for me.” Roxanne beamed heartily at the lady beside her as soon as the servants began clearing out the dishes from the table.

Cecile had been a bundle of good energy all through breakfast and had helped Roxanne relaxed.

Roxanne wanted so badly for Cecile to be her friend. Well, maybe she could try to make her one.

It would not be so bad to have a friend for a short while now that she knows she could die at anytime. "Having someone to laugh with wouldn't be a bad idea after all." Roxanne said to herself.

"I should be thanking you, Roxanne. I have never met anyone as special and beautiful as you." Cecile smiled and ran her hand over Roxanne's hair and down the right side of her face. "You are so beautiful."

"And so are you." Roxanne beamed hard at her, happy that finally, someone saw her worthy and treated her like a part of their own.

"Alright, I think we better get going now," Alpha Russo said, standing up from his chair. Just like everyone else, he was surprised that Cecile was talking and being nice to Roxanne.

Everyone knew that Cecile always hated the other ladies, so why was she being so nice to Roxanne. He was yet to tell her that she was the one with the mark and he did not know how she was going to react to it. He needed to get Cecile away from Roxanne before she knew about the mark.

"Alright," Roxanne answered and stood up from her chair. As she stood, Alpha Russo could not help but be taken by her absolute beauty, there was something about her body that makes him excited but he contained it.

As he admired her, he noticed an oddity in her jewelry. She was missing an earring in her right ear. He was not going to bother himself over a pair of earrings, but they were his late mother's earrings and he wasn't ready to let them go.

Immediately, rage filled him and he faced Roxanne like a common thief. “What happened to the earring on your ear?” He growled hard at her, making everyone stand on their toes.

The air in the room became tense as everyone turned their gaze toward Russo and Roxanne.

"Earring?" Roxanne whispered to herself as she ran her hands over her ears. Her eyes immediately popped wide open when she noticed that her right ear was bare. But how she wondered. She had been certain she wore a complete set to the room.

“Yes, the earrings you're on right now belongs to my late mother, what happened to the one on your right ear?” Russo's eyes lit with rage as he walked towards her.

Roxanne could only walk backwards, "what have I done?" She chastised herself under her breath as tears dropped down her cheeks.

Recalling how Russo had snapped Keeth's neck, she knew instinctively that she had just taken her last breakfast. "I'm sorry, your majesty." Her back was against the wall with nowhere to run to.

Alpha Russo ran his hand through her face and grabbed her neck, not enough to hurt but enough to show control. "Sorry doesn't cut it," He snarled and the whole room went dead as silence. "You shouldn't have wore it only to misplace it."

"I don't know it was your mother's." Roxanne replied shakily. "Give me the chance to look for it, I'm sure it's somewhere around." She lowered her body and let him towered over her.

"And if you don't find it?"

"I will." Roxanne ascertained.

"Russo, can you go easy on her? I'm sure we would find the missing earring." Cecile said, coming to Roxanne's rescue.

"Stay out of this." Alpha Russo replied. "This earring was her favourite and one of the last things she wore before her death."

"I know." Cecile responded happy at the scenario playing out, Alpha Russo was finally mad at Roxanne. "But we should focus on looking for the earring, you can save the punishment for later." She added emphasizing on every word.

"I would get the servants to search for it," Simone added, hoping to rein down his Alpha's growing anger.

"I do not want the servants. I want Princess Roxanne to find it., it's the least she can do." Alpha Russo countered before turning to Roxanne. "You have one hour to return the earring or I won't be able to guarantee your life."

"Thank you sire, It must have fallen off without me knowing. I will find it and get it back to you as soon as possible." Roxanne apologized. Her body was shaking and she could not believe that she was already making him angry. Maybe today was indeed the day she would die.

“Well, if you are certain that it fell off, you should start looking for it!” He barked, his anger getting the best of him. "Time isn't on your side, princess."

“Y-yes sire.” She answered and immediately dropped to the floor, looking through every inch for the earring.

Russo's eyes almost came out of their socket when he saw Cecile dropping to the floor along with Roxanne and helping her to look for the earrings.

“What are you doing?” He asked her.

“I am helping Roxanne look for her earrings.” She answered without sparing the Alpha a look.

Alpha Russo as well as everyone in the room shared a look among themselves, wondering what the hell was going on with Cecile. The girl was never nice to anyone, talk more about wanting to help the current Lady of the Alpha king. It was as though she no longer cared about being Russo's Luna.

Cecile knew Russo was bluffing about killing her, no matter how much he gets mad at her, he wouldn't kill her over a mere earrings especially when she was the bearer of the mark.

Cecile knew if she wanted to be Roxanne's friend, she had to prove to her that she was beneficial to her. She needed to show Roxanne that she needed her and that way, it would be easy for her to control the young girl.

She did not know what she was expecting when she slid the earring off Roxanne's ear earlier on, but now, she was more than glad that she did.

All she has to do is place the earring on the floor and claim to find it. When she was certain that no eyes were on her, she dropped the earring on the floor and let out an excited gasp.

“I found it.” Cecile announced.

“Really?” Roxanne asked getting up from beneath the table.

“Yep.” She answered excitedly and waved the earring at her.

“Oh, thank you so much.” Roxanne blurted out and pulled Cecile into a bear hug.

"I found the earring." Roxanne showed Alpha Russo a complete set.

Alpha Russo could not believe what his eyes were seeing. He could not explain what exactly was going on between the two women but one thing was certain, he had to keep them away from each other.

"Princes Roxanne, you should come with me." Alpha Russo strode out angrily.