That bracelet was her mother's keepsake, imbued with the faint trace of her scent even after all these years. It had been with her for over a decade; she never removed it. Lyra's heart plummeted into her stomach. Panic, anxiety, dread—emotions crashed over her in waves like a storm-tossed sea. She forced herself to stay calm, retracing every moment from yesterday to today, trying to remember where she might have left it.
She had just risen to begin her search when a soft clatter came from the great hall. She rushed out to find Selene lounging on the cushioned settee, toying with the bracelet, tossing it into the air and catching it again with deliberate carelessness.
"Give that back to me." Lyra's voice turned to ice, a growl building in her throat.
Selene acted as if she hadn't heard. Instead, she threw the bracelet even higher toward the vaulted ceiling. Lyra instinctively reached out to catch it, but the bracelet arced through the air and slipped past her desperate fingers, crashing onto the hard marble floor.
Crack—
The sharp sound of shattering echoed through the hall. The silver bracelet split into several pieces, scattering across the cold stone like fallen stars.
"How dare you?" Lyra's voice shook uncontrollably, a tremor running through her entire body. Red veins shot through her eyes, her wolf surging toward the surface. That wasn't just any bracelet. It was her mother's memory. It was the only warmth she had in this frozen house, the only proof that she had once been loved.
Selene lifted her head slowly, savoring Lyra's breakdown with a smug, vicious smile that revealed the points of her teeth. "Didn't Fenris just give you a new moonstone bracelet? I'm merely helping you dispose of the old one. After all, useless garbage belongs in the refuse pit."
"Who are you calling garbage?!" Lyra trembled with rage, her claws threatening to extend. Years of swallowed grievances and suppressed fury erupted all at once like a dam finally breaking. She couldn't hold back any longer. She lunged forward and shoved Selene to the ground, then dropped to her knees, hands shaking as she gathered the broken pieces. Tears fell beyond her control, splashing onto the shattered fragments of her mother's last gift.