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“I should never even have asked you to stay and tolerate another wife.”

The savage self-contempt in the sheikh’s voice made Harper dug her fingers deeper into her palms, made her wish she had sharper, longer nails that could hurt her more – hurt her so much that she would no longer notice the way her battered heart had started to beat again, and just because he was here—-

When they both knew he couldn’t stay.

“I didn’t ask you to do that,” she whispered.

“You didn’t have to. You would never have to—-”

“I don’t want to wake up one day and have you hate me because of what you lost.”

“It would never happen.” She started shaking her head and Khalil’s tone became fiercer. “Did you think I didn’t try to see if I could live without you? I tried. Ifuckingtried. I had to. Being the king was all that meant to me my entire life, but the two months you were gone—-”

“I don’t want to hear any more!”

Harper tried to run away, but the sheikh hauled her into his arms.

“No more!”

She shoved him away, and when it didn’t work, she beat his chest as hard as he could, forcing him to capture her wrists and lock them behind her wrists.

“Harper—-”

She was crying, the tears silently rushing down her cheeks, and the sheikh flinched.

“I know it would be better if I leave you alone,” he said roughly. “I know you’re going to suffer more when you’re with me. But I just can’t live without you—-”

Harper squeezed her eyes shut.“Please. Please stop this.”

“Every time I tried to thought of another day without you by my side, the fucking air around me changes—-”

“PLEASE STOP.”

“And I can’t breathe—-”

“Please.” Harper was sobbing now. “Please stop doing this—-”

“My heart doesn’t beat right—-”

“I don’t want to go back,” Harper screamed.

The sheikh turned ashen, and she nearly broke apart at the look of devastation on his face. She didn’t want to hurt him like this. She loved him, loved him more than she loved anything. But she also knew he could only be himself when he was king—-

“Y-you heard me, so stop this. I don’t want to go back—-”

The sheikh started shaking his head.

Harper bit her lip hard. “I will never want to go back—-”

He released her wrists to grip her shoulders hard. “YOU DO. You do, damn you.” But the desperation in his tone, the wildness in his gaze, told both of them he didn’t seem to believe this any more than she did. “You have to come back to me because I love you—-” He stared at her, willing her to say the words that would tell him he still had hope.

But she only cried as she shook her head—-

And the sheikh slid to his knees.

A painful gasp escaped her.“Khalil, no—-”

He stared up at her. “You’re my other half, Harper.”