He met Nick’s gaze. “By the way, I lied earlier when I told you why I fought for the side I did. It wasn’t to anger my mother. I truly never cared what she thought of me, one way or another. I betrayed the Malachai and my mother, and fought for the Kalosum, solely to keep faith with my wife. She was the only being I would never in my life disappoint. The only one I would bleed or die for.”

Menyara sneered at him. “You’re lying! You never had a wife.”

But the anguish in his red-tinged, rust-colored eyes said that Xev spoke from his heart. No, that wasn’t a lie. Even though Xev had told Nick himself that he’d never known love, Nick knew that look. Every instinct he possessed told him that Xev was being honest with him, right now. That was the same exact light Caleb had in his eyes whenever he spoke of his Lilliana.

The same expression Kyrian had with Theone. Bubba with Melissa.

That was true love. The kind people wrote sonnets and songs about. The kind that broke your heart and left it shattered for eternity.

“What was her name?” Nick asked.

Xev didn’t pause or hesitate with his answer. And when he spoke, his voice softened with reverence, adding further proof that he was telling the truth. “Myone.”

Menyara shot to her feet. “Liar! Myone would have never had anything to do with one such as you! She was one of the purest souls I’ve ever known.” Her anger made Nick wonder who Myone was, but this wasn’t the time to ask.

Xev met Menyara’s gaze without flinching or backing down. “Do not dishonor her memory by speaking her name with your tainted tongue when you know nothing of her true beauty or character! You’re just as delusional and hypocritical as my father. You think because you are born of light that you’re somehow better and kinder than those who aren’t, but you’re not. It merely makes you more sanctimonious in your cruelty. Makes you feel entitled in your wrongful actions against others. But you’re no better than my mother. If anything, you’re worse, because you think your viciousness is justified against us.”