Page 462 of Reign

“They were hers.” Luciano covers my hand where it rests against the worn leather. “And you should never have been made to feel like you had to steal pieces of your own mother.”

I try to draw a breath, but it shudders halfway into my lungs.

He’s right.

She was my mother too. Angelo and Santo weren’t the only ones who lost her. I lost her. I loved her. I deserve to have pieces of her.

I hug the journal to my chest before I can process any of it and fold in on myself as the tears come.

The awful, ugly kind of crying I hate. My fingers shake. One nostril immediately stops working, and my entire face gets hot because apparently grief isn’t humiliating enough on its own.

I hate crying.

But I have my mamma.

I have a piece of my mamma, and Luciano brought her back to me.

He moves the bag aside and gathers me onto his lap. His arms close around me, holding me against his chest with the journal pressed safely between us.

“It’s okay, princesa.” He kisses my temple. “Look at me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m ugly right now.”

“You’ve never been ugly a day in your life.”

“That’s because you haven’t seen me crying with only one functioning nostril.”

His hand cups my cheek.

“Elena.”

I finally lift my face.

Luciano wipes carefully beneath one of my eyes. Another tear replaces the first almost immediately, but he doesn’t seem to care. He adjusts me across his lap and secures one arm around my waist.

“I have one more thing for you.”

“If it’s another sentimental thing, throw it away.” I sniff and press the journal more tightly against my chest. “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t have any tears left.”

“I don’t think you want me to throw this away.”

He reaches into his pocket.

A delicate gold chain spills slowly from his fingers.

My heart stops.

Just completely fucking stops.

A small, flat circle hangs from the end, a single L engraved into the center. The gold catches the afternoon light as the pendant turns.

I know that necklace.

I used to play with that pendant while Mamma held me. I watched it lying near the front walk after those men put her in their car. It stayed there when Papa carried me away.