XAVIER’s POV

Power is never loud when it wants to be lethal.

It whispers.

And whispers can break kingdoms faster than war.

That was what I kept thinking as I sat across from Zayne, the silence between us thick enough to choke on.

The bar we’d chosen was dim, tucked in a side street, the kind of place people came to forget their sins, not confess them.

Zayne had asked to see me several times. I declined each one.

I told myself it was because I had no time, because the war with Charles left ...