The question hit somewhere tender, somewhere he'd spent considerable effort protecting. But she'd earned the truth. She'd stood beside him, chosen him, defended him against his own blood without knowing any of the history.
He owed her this.
"There was a woman," he began, then stopped. The words felt like glass in his throat. "Her name was Jen."
Her hand found his, her fingers interlacing with his own. She didn't speak. Didn't push. Just waited, patient as the ancient oaks surrounding them.
"I met her about five years ago, back in the city. She was… everything I thought I wanted. Beautiful. Clever. Ambitious." He laughed, the sound bitter even to his own ears. "She made me feel like I was special. Like I was more than just charm and good looks and parties. Like she saw something real in me."
"What happened?"
"Silas happened." The name tasted like ash. "He'd always been jealous of me—or so I thought. I was the youngest but I was the one who inherited our father's gift for growing things, the one everyone expected to take over the family vineyards. Silas got thebrains, the business sense, but I got the magic. And in our world, magic matters."
He guided them both toward the massive oak at the clearing's edge, settling against its trunk with her tucked against his side. The bark was warm and welcoming, the grove's magic gentler now, responding to the shift in his emotions.
"Jen and I were together for almost a year. I thought—" He broke off, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter what I thought. What matters is that Silas approached her behind my back. Told her things about me. Some true, some… embellished. Painted a picture of a man who would never commit, never settle down, never be what she needed."
"And she believed him?"
"She believed the part where he offered her something better." Thallos's voice hardened. "He seduced her. Not just physically—emotionally. Made her think he was the stable, reliable brother while I was just a pretty face with no substance. By the time I found out, they'd been carrying on for months. Everyone knew except me."
Her grip on his hand tightened. "That's… god, Thallos. I'm so sorry."
"The worst part wasn't the betrayal. It was the aftermath." He stared up at the stars beginning to pepper the darkening sky. "Silas didn't even want her. Not really. Once he'd proven he could take her from me, he lost interest. Dropped her within weeks. The whole thing was just—" He struggled to find the word. "An exercise. A demonstration. Proving that anything I had, he could take."
"That's why you came here. To Harmony Glen."
"I ran." No point in dressing it up. "I couldn't stand watching them together, and then I couldn't stand watching her fall apart when he discarded her. Couldn't stand the pity in everyone's eyes, the whispers. This vineyard was part of my family’s property, but it was small and insignificant, about as far from my old life as I could get. So I started over."
The confession hung between them, raw and unvarnished. He waited for her response, half-expecting her to pull away. After all, what did it say about him that he'd fled rather than fought? That his response to betrayal had been retreat rather than confrontation?
But she didn't pull away. Instead, she turned to face him fully, her expression thoughtful.
"Do you still have feelings for her? Jen?"
"No." The answer came immediately, sure and certain. "Whatever I felt for her… it died when I found out. And honestly? Looking back now, I don't think it was ever real. I was in love with the idea of her, maybe. With being chosen. But the actual woman?" He shook his head. "We barely knew each other. Not really."
"But you never dealt with Silas."
"I never dealt with any of it." He met her eyes, forcing himself to hold her gaze despite the shame crawling through him. "I buried it. Told myself that if I just moved on, started fresh, it wouldn't matter anymore. And for a while, that worked. Until tonight, when I saw him with his hands on you?—"
The rage flickered again, ember-hot.
"—and I realized that running doesn't fix anything. It just postpones the reckoning."
She reached up and touched his face, her fingers gentle against his jaw. "Then go have your reckoning. But Thallos—" She paused until he met her eyes. "Whatever he says, whatever poison he tries to spread—remember that I'm here. Waiting. Choosing you."
Something in his chest expanded, warm and terrifying.
"I don't know how long this will take."
"I'll be at my apartment." A small smile curved her lips. "Try not to break anything important."
"I make no promises." But he was smiling too, despite everything. "Tomorrow, after—I want you to meet me at the vineyard. Early. Before the chaos of festival prep takes over. I have something I want to show you."
"Mysterious."
"Devastatingly so." He leaned down and kissed her, soft and lingering. "Thank you. For believing in me."
