Chapter 3

When Ronan came to find me, I was helping my sister put those plans away.

He saw the photo of Adrian and Clara on her phone. “My older brother will sort it out,” he said quietly. “Come back with me.”

“What for?”

“We can't go on like this.”

He held out his hand. The key to the lakeside cabin lay in his palm.

“Come out there tonight. Just the two of us. Whatever you want to talk about, I'll listen.”

I didn't take it.

He'd fixed up that cabin himself.

We'd spent a weekend there after he proposed.

He couldn't cook breakfast to save his life. He'd burned the toast, then insisted that a warrior's food ought to be tough too.

I'd laughed so hard I doubled over. He'd refused to admit defeat, but he'd broken off the burned edges and put the good pieces on my plate.

And now he was offering me that key again.

“Lia, I want to make things right between us.”

He looked down at me, his voice a little rough.

My wolf, Nora, urged me to take the key. She still wanted to be with our mate.

I accepted it. “You said just the two of us.”

“I promise.”

I arrived at the cabin that evening.

Ronan was already at the door. He took my coat and bent to kiss my forehead.

His familiar scent surrounded me, and some of the tension finally eased from my shoulders.

Then I walked into the dining room and saw Clara sitting at the table.

Ronan followed me in and began explaining before I could speak.

“My brother got called into a meeting. She didn't want to eat alone. I promise I'll take her back right after dinner.”

There were already three places set.

He'd known we wouldn't be alone, but he hadn't even sent me a message. He'd waited until I walked in to tell me.

“You promised it would be just us.”

“I know.”

“And you brought her anyway?”

Clara stood, her eyes quickly filling with tears.

“I asked him to. No matter how busy my father was, he always came home to have dinner with me…”

Ronan immediately turned to get her a tissue.

My coat was still draped over his arm.

Only a moment ago, he'd been kissing my forehead.

The second Clara cried, he turned to comfort her without even stopping to put it down.

Since she'd moved into the Moon Chambers, this had happened more times than I could count.

I walked over, took back my coat, and set the key on the dining table. Then I turned to leave.

Only then did Ronan follow me.

“Lia, give me a little time.”

“I have. Ever since she moved into the Moon Chambers. Every single time.”

“I don't have feelings for her.”

“But you keep lying to me so you won't disappoint her.”

He stopped short.

I was hurting so badly I could barely get the words out.

“I came here tonight because I wanted us to work.”

I pushed open the cabin door.

“Now I have my answer.”

When I returned to the Moon Chambers, my sister was sitting at the desk, writing a letter.

She saw that I'd come back alone. Without a question, she pulled out the chair beside her.

The letter was addressed to the Alpha King. She was asking to have her mate bond severed.

“This afternoon, I asked Adrian why he'd given my work to Clara without telling me.”

My sister held her pen, her voice hoarse.

“He said Clara understood the pain of losing family better than I did. He told me not to make a fuss over a position.”

She lowered her head and signed her name at the bottom.

“I asked why he hadn't discussed it with me. All he heard was that I wanted my position back.”

I sat beside her.

“Do you have any more paper?”

My sister looked at me, then slid the remaining stationery across the desk.

I took the pen from her hand and addressed my letter to the same person.