“It’s okay. I love talking about her—no one asks about her anymore, and I wish they would, if only to give me an excuse to remember her. I was just thinking of what to tell you,” he says gently. “She was so kind, and fiercely intelligent. I think that’s what you would have most appreciated about her. I thought she could read my mind, because she always seemed to know what trouble I was about to get into before I did it. But then she would tell me to go do it anyway, just to be careful.” I chuckle, and he looks down at me with his own smile. “She always encouraged me to read and do extra research in the archives. So naturally, I did the exact opposite.”

I laugh brightly. “She sounds wonderful.”

“She really was,” he says, eyes bright. “She would have loved you.” I scoff, but he squeezes my hand. “I really mean it. She would have been shocked by the mating bond, of course, but she would have been so happy I found someone like you. Someone who sees through my antics and doesn’t put up with my bullshit.” My cheeks flush, even as I smile. “That necklace was actually hers, you know.” He nods to the lightning bolt necklace resting on my collarbone. The necklace that I haven’t taken off since the day he gave it to me. “Her father gave it to her when she married my father. She used to tell me she wore it to remind her of me and my lightning power. I found it among her things when I finally searched through them, hidden away with the diary that revealed the truth of her death. It was only then that I learned more about the symbol and what it meant that she wore this necklace every day.” I gently touch the jewelry, feeling unworthy to wear such an important piece of Thorne. He must sense what’s going through my head, because he covers my hand with his where it rests against my neck. “I wouldn’t want that necklace to be anywhere else but right there. And neither would she. It belongs on you, on my mate.” His words are gentle and soothing, and they crack something open inside me I’d been trying to keep at bay.

“I’m still having trouble believing it’s all real,” I admit, the emotions flooding me, making it hard to say anything else.