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You’ll destroy it anyway, a voice of reason reminded me.

Maybe. And I was a coward, because I wasn’t ready to watch that progress burn. However, I had to give Harper something. A kernel of truth. She was too smart to back down completely.

I drew a deep breath. “I told you before that my brother is the king.”

Harper nodded. “I remember.”

“Cyrus and I had a falling out. It happened close to a century ago. I’m not proud of who I was when I was young. I was brash and hot-tempered.” I slanted Harper a look. “In modern vernacular, I was a bit of a dick. My brother is a rule follower. He has to be. Lycan society is rigid.” And I was stalling. I cleared my throat. “Cyrus is king, but he shares power with a Council of Nobles. I broke the law. I…hurt people, and I shouldn’t have. Normally, the king would pass judgment on a criminal. But the council intervened, claiming Cyrus had a conflict of interest because I was a relative. They ruled against me, sentencing me to death.”

Harper clutched her throat, her eyes going wide. “Oh my god.”

“Obviously, I wasn’t executed.” I gave a bitter laugh. “Although, for a while, I wished those bastards had gone through with it.”

“Don’t say that,” Harper murmured, her eyes sheened with tears.

I wanted to reach for her, but I forced my hands to stay at my sides. “Cyrus struck a bargain with the nobles. He banished me, cutting me off from lycan society. I’m not supposed to leave Draithmere.”

Harper’s eyes went wider. “But you came to Seattle. And you went to the grocery store for me.”

“Yes. Technically, I broke the terms of my banishment. If the council wanted to punish me for it, they could. But I don’t think that will happen. The nobles ignore me. My brother has done his best to forget I exist.”

A tear slipped down Harper’s cheek.

My heart squeezed. I caught the droplet on my finger. “Oh, sweetheart, please don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it.” She stepped into me and cupped my cheek. I waited for her to ask about my crimes. To demand what I’d done to merit such a harsh sentence. Instead, something fierce entered her eyes. “Whatever you did, it happened a century ago. It doesn’t define you now. I know who you are. I don’t need to know anything else.”

I covered her hand with my own, my throat thickening. “I don’t deserve you.”

She shrugged. “Probably not.”

We smiled at each other.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “I can make us dinner.”

I dragged her hand to my mouth and pressed a kiss in the center of her palm. “You make it, I’ll eat it.”

She held my hand the rest of the way back to Draithmere. And I tried to ignore the truth that pounded an insistent tattoo in my head.

I didn’t deserve her.

And I couldn’t lie to her forever.

Chapter

Seventeen

HARPER

Guilt dogged my steps as Einar and I entered Draithmere’s kitchen.

He’d shared his secret with me. The least I could do was tell him I’d met Goliath and the others. I should have told him sooner, but the timing never seemed right.

Because I’d been busy enjoying myself on the receiving end of his tongue.

Heat flooded my cheeks. To hide it, I went to the fridge and peered inside. “Do you like chicken salad sandwiches?” I asked, raising my voice.

“As long as you have enough for ten of them,” Einar said somewhere behind me. When I turned, a can of mayo in hand, he winked at me from the other side of the massive island in the center of the kitchen. “I burned a lot of calories today.”