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.

comfort me when I was sick, to hold

my own feelings and touching

sorry for myself and go check on

point–but I

put the kettle on and pulled out her favorite tea blend, along with some of the cookies she’d baked yesterday. By the time I’d arranged everything on a

open the door

the knitting project she was working on on the swinging bench, and her face lit up. “How

1/3

table by the window

Lilith’s

eyes

took in the

me, but you’re the one who lost something precious today. You

to give it to her. “That necklace suits