The tempest outside battered the windows as Sarah froze in the hallway, Lucas's peculiar eyes stripping her bare. Then—like a snuffed candle—the peculiarity vanished. His shoulders relaxed, his eyes clearing as he massaged his temples.

"God, I feel like I've been sleepwalking," he growled.

Sarah's pulse thudded against her neck. The danger in the diary echoed in her mind, yet when Lucas wrapped his hands around her, his palms were warm and hard, his coarse thumbs wiping away the tears she had not even realized she was crying.

"I'm here," he whispered, holding her against his chest. The hard one-two of his heartbeat beneath her ear rooted her as the house groaned around them. "Whatever this is, we'll navigate it together."

The moment his lips brushed her forehead, the world was tipped.

—Thomas's embrace of Emily in a wet stable, their breath shared as he vowed, "No law, no kin, no God will keep me from you"--

—The salt and iron flavor of sealing it with bloody kisses—

Sarah was stunned when vision let her go. Lucas's grip was tighter, his eyes darkened with shared memory. "You saw that too."

Outside, the storm raged against the hawthorn tree, its branches clawing at the sky. But in this fragile circle of warmth, Sarah allowed herself to hope—tonight, at least—that love could endure even death.

The locket between them started to heat, but not to blaze. It glowed like a digital sun.