Zera remained silent for the next minute after Aaron told her those words. She hadn’t known Xoe for a long time, yet her death has now come as a shock to her. It made sense now why Ivan looked as one mourning because, as much as he denied it, he considered her more than a mere acquaintance. She meant more than that, and it showed all over him.

She knows why his fury was directed at her. She couldn’t understand why he would ever think she had something to do with her death. Why ...