Chapter 99

Elara's POV

If Zarek Vane were truly a cold-blooded monster, he wouldn't have stood at my parents' funeral. He wouldn't have come all the way to Cinderholme just to honor them.

So when he asked if I thought him one, my lips tightened before I countered, "Was your mother cruel to you?"

His voice carried no tremor, no bitterness—just a steady calm that made the words land like steel. "She hated me.