Dravina POV

“Cassian isn’t what I came to talk about.”

Malrik’s tone was calm, steady, but there was an undercurrent there something that made my chest tighten, as if my body recognized the weight of his words before my mind could.

“What I need to speak with you about is… your parents.”

The word alone hit me like a blade to the gut. Parents.

For a moment, the world tilted off its axis, and the old wound inside me sharp, jagged, unhealed split open again.

My parents.

The ...