Lilith looked at the cairn. At the stones that represented a life cut impossibly short.
"I don't know what to say," Lilith admitted. "Everything feels inadequate. How do you sum up someone's entire existence in a few words? How do you express gratitude for a sacrifice so absolute?"
"You don't," Lucian said quietly. "You just speak from the heart."
Lilith took a breath.
"Nicholas," she said, and saying his name out loud felt like breaking open a wound that had not yet healed. "I don't know if you can hear this. I don't know if any part of you exists anywhere except in our memories. But....."
Her voice broke. She forced herself to continue.
