The sickened luna’s last chance

But then there were moments like that night when I’d asked about children, when he’d immediately fallen back on the contract like it was the most logical thing. Or the way he’d mentioned extending our contract when he’d marked me at the hospital.

I couldn’t figure out how he really felt about me. Did he care about me as his mate, or was I still just a convenient arrangement to him?

Sometimes I wished my mother were here. I wished I could ask her for advice.

Maybe if I’d had that kind of guidance growing up, things would have turned out differently. Maybe I would have known how to recognize love when I saw it, or how to protect my heart from getting broken by someone who might never truly want me.

But I’d never had that. My mother had died when I was an infant, and then my father and stepmother had treated me like an inconvenience at best, a burden at worst. They’d never cared enough about my happiness to give me advice about anything, let alone something as complicated as marriage.

To them, I was just a pawn.

The thought made my chest hurt in a hollow, throbbing sort of way, and I realized I was crying again. Not for the locket this time, but for everything I’d never had. The mother who should have been there, the family who should have supported me, the childhood that should have prepared me for moments like this.

But then I thought about Lilith, and the ache in my heart softened slightly.

to me. She’d been the one to comfort me when I was sick,

own feelings and

for myself and

way downstairs to the kitchen. It was late–past nine o’clock by that point–but I knew she would still

some of the cookies she’d baked yesterday. By the time I’d arranged everything on a tray, the water was

I called out as I pushed open the door with my hip. “I brought

on on the swinging bench, and her face lit up. “How lovely, dear.

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table by the window and reached up to unclasp the diamond necklace.

Lilith’s

eyes

she took in the sparkling stones. “Ella, I couldn’t

to me, but you’re the one who

shook her head firmly and gently pushed my hands away when I tried to give it to