The Queen's Mate

THREE

Grief.

Grief is a compelling emotion. When the human mind is grieving a loss, any loss, it tends to drive the person to the doors of the impossible. Anger becomes rage, pain becomes agony; everything is just so heightened when one is grieving. Especially the loss of a loved one.

This grief creates a gaping hole in one's chest where it becomes almost unbearable to even breathe without flinching. That is just how strong human emotions can be.

As of now, Eleanor laid on her bed with her face buried in her pillow, and her eyes closed. Visible streaks of dried tears could be seen on her cheeks as a mind-numbing silence engulfed her whole.

The entire estate felt like it had been shrouded by unending darkness. For the first time in her life, she felt utterly alone, and she did not have a clue on how to cope with that.

Memories of all of the happy and sad moments between her and her parents kept rushing behind her closed orbs as she reminisced their existence yet again. It was the harsh reality of her life that they were never coming back and that was enough to make her wish to scream on top of her lungs or run away from everything to a place where no one would ever know who she was.

However, she knew that as easy as that would be, she could not do it. Not when the entire weight of everything which her parents built was lying on her shoulders. And especially not when all their competitors were waiting to see how she would manage the Sparks empire now. All eyes were on her and she felt like a human in a sea full of sharks.

In the back of her mind were two bright cerulean eyes which never seemed to allow her to relax. Ever since she had met Adonis Morgenstern a few days ago, at the wake, she had been restless; worried.

Somehow, she was aware that he knew much more than what he was letting on and she could not ignore the feeling of recognition that came whenever she thought about him.

Ever since then, she had been getting flashes of incidents and situations that she had never encountered in real life.

At first, she thought that they were just a result of her subconscious conjuring up false instances in the form of dreams, but they just felt so real that it was difficult to differentiate them from her own memories.

The key he gave her was still placed on the side table of her bed as she finally opened her eyes and glared at the velvet casing.

What could possibly be guarded by it?

She thought as she reached out to take it out of the box and brought it in front of her face to examine it.

The key looked like any ordinary key with a long neck and a rusting coating on it. It was nothing extraordinary. However, what did feel extraordinary was the warmth and strength emanating from it. Somehow it felt like it had a mind of its own and that when Eleanor moved it around in her hands, it just seemed to interact with her.

The brunette shook her head.

This wasn’t possible. The key was an inanimate object and it couldn’t really interact with her as she imagined. Perhaps she was simply thinking too much upon the subject.

She was about to place the key back in its place when her eyes fell on an intricate carving on its tip. She had seen the carving way too many times to miss.

It was a fleur-de-lis engraved in the surface of the copper metal. A symbol that held quite the significance in their family since she had always been taught about how it represented strength, unity, and nobility. And hence, it was also the Sparks family crest from what her father had always told her.

Now she was intrigued; especially since she could guess the place where the key would fit in.

Getting up from the bed, she ran her hand through her brown tresses, pushing them away from her face as she walked out of her room with a newfound determination in her caramel eyes.

She skipped down the stairs right before her feet came to a stop in front of her father’s study; the metallic key was clutched tightly in her hands. Pushing in the door, she switched on the lights and entered the room.

A wave of sadness hit her harshly when she saw Daniel’s empty desk. She knew she was never going to find him sitting behind his computer screen, working as she used to.

Breathing a deep sigh, she walked in and over to the desk as she clutched the top of her father’s plush leather chair. A tear pooled up in her eyes again before she crouched down and opened a cabinet on the inside of the desk.

In front of her was a fleur-de-lis carved into the wood.

“Jackpot.” She whispered with a smirk as she quickly searched for a keyhole.

That was until she accidentally pushed the wooden slab and it opened on its own accord to reveal a digital locker. The only means to see what was inside was a biometric fingerprint reader.

“Are you kidding me?” She groaned before standing up shaking her head. She should have known that this was not going to be that easy.

“Elle?” She looked up listening to Anderson’s voice and found him standing by the door with an unreadable expression.

“Anders!” she exclaimed. “Oh, thank God, you’re here.”

He smiled but continued to look at her questioningly. “What are you doing here at this hour?” He asked gesturing to the clock which showed that it was way past midnight.

Eleanor’s jaw hung open sheepishly as she pursed her lips together and nervously ran her hand through her hair. “I didn’t realize that it was so late. What are you doing up?” She asked him curiously coming to stand in front of him.

“Oh, I was just done instructing the housekeeping staff about the works for tomorrow.” He explained confusing her further.

“Tomorrow?” She sputtered out making him raise an inquisitive brow.

“It’s your birthday eve tomorrow, Elle.” He reminded her making her eyes widen.

For a few instances, neither spoke anything as she stood there taking in the piece of information. It had entirely slipped her mind that her birthday was so close.

It was for her birthday that Daniel and Mary were on their way to New York before they died.

It was all because of her.

“I am not going to be celebrating, Anderson.” She snapped turning away, biting the inside of her cheeks as she tried her hardest to not cry in front of him again.

“But, Elle, it’s your birthday!” He insisted.

“It means nothing without my parents, and you know it, Anders. I will not be celebrating anything for the next few years. Nothing is worth it.” She affirmed.

“Elle, they wouldn’t have wanted this.”

That made her turn around as he almost regretted his words when he saw her bloodshot eyes. “Guess what? They’re not here anymore.” He flinched at the venomous tone that fell out of her lips.

She quickly schooled her emotions and realized what she had just said before looking at Anderson apologetically. “I’m sorry, that was harsh of me. You lost them too.” She whispered reaching out to squeeze his hand.

Anderson shook his head and stroked her hair in a father-like manner. “It’s alright, Elle. You have every right to react in any way you feel like. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for you to be able to deal with such a great loss. You are truly a strong soul, kid.” He spoke in a calming tone with hopes of comforting her inner turmoil.

Eleanor nodded her head gratefully before she realized that she had left the key on her father’s desk. She went back to get it as Anderson furrowed his brows when he saw the piece of metal in her hands.

“Where did you get that?” He asked instantly.

She scrunched her brows and looked at him questioningly. “Dad’s lawyer gave this to me. Why, do you know something?”

“Which lawyer?” He asked with urgency in his voice, ignoring her own question.

“There’s a new lawyer named Adonis…”

“Adonis Morgenstern?” He snapped.

Eleanor was utterly confused and had begun to get agitated by his wariness. Such a sudden change in his demeanor was beginning to piss her off.

“Yes, Adonis Morgenstern, but how the hell does that matter?” She snapped at him. “Do you know anything about this?” She asked raising her hand to showcase the key.

His eyes widened slightly, for a moment she saw greed in his dark onyx orbs.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” He grumbled but his gaze stayed fixed on the key. “We suspect that someone killed your parents in hopes of getting that very key.” He revealed making the floor slip from beneath her feet.

She felt like the world came crashing upon her as she stood in her place with her jaw hanging open as she stared at the middle-aged man in front of her whilst no words left her mouth at all.

Until now she had been thinking that her parents had died because of an unfortunate accident. That it was all fate working its way and that there was nothing she could do but accept what the reality was.

However, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Now there was a chance that someone might have killed her parents; deliberately taken their lives, taken them away from her. And for what? A key. A junk piece of metal was the reason someone killed her parents.