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.

    bI /bcouldn’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 asplicated 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.

    I did have someone. Lilith had been a mother to me. She’d been the one tofort me when I was sick, to hold me when I cried, to celebrate with me when good things happened.

    And it was Lilith’s precious locket that Gabriel had destroyed. While I was sitting here moping about my own feelings and touching Alexander’s expensive gift, she was probably downstairs missing her family heirloom just as much as I was.

    I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself and go check on her.

    After quickly changing, I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. It waste–past nine o’clock by that point–but I knew she would still be up. Lilith wasn’t there, but I could hear her humming on the back porch.

    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 tray, the water was ready.

    “Lilith?” I called out as I pushed open the door with my hip. “I brought tea,”

    She looked up from the knitting project she was working on on the swinging bench, and her face lit up. “How lovely, dear. How are you feeling?”

    “bI’m /bbbetter /bbnow/b.” bI /bset the tray down on the small table by the window and reached up bto /bunsp the diamond ne. “I wanted to give you this.”

    Lilith’s

    eyes

    widened as she took in the sparkling stones. “E, I couldn’t possibly-”

    “Please. Alexander gave it to me, but you’re the one who lost something precious today. You should have it.”

    “Absolutely not.” Lilith shook her head firmly and gently pushed my hands away when I tried to give it to her. “That ne suits you perfectly. Besides, diamonds were never really my style anyway.”

    “But your locket-”

    “E, darling, the ne itself was never what mattered most to me.” Lilith set aside her knitting and cupped my face, thumbs smoothing over my cheekbones. “What mattered was that it made you happy when you needed it the most, even if only for a little while.

    I felt the familiar sensation of hot tears pricking at the backs of my eyes again. “I’m so sorry it’s gone.”

    “I am too. But we still have each other, don’t we? Lilith smiled and gestured to the tea tray.” Now put that beautiful ne back on and pour us some tea.”

    I fastened the ne around my neck and poured the tea, sitting down on the bench next to Lilith. She handed me a cookie andunched into a story about the nket she was going to knit for the baby, and soon we wereughing, feet swinging as the bench swayed back and

    forth.

    And for a little while, that was all that mattered the two of us together, enjoying each other’spany.

    Diamonds and lockets could neverpare.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!