Jovi's smile didn't just fade. It died. Her gaze skipped from my devastated face to the stark hospital setting, then settled on Vance. On his hand on my chair. On the disarray of his usually perfect hair. On the way his entire being was angled toward me, a wall between me and the world. She was seeing a version of her husband she didn't recognize.

"Neri?" Zane's voice was rough. He took a half-step forward, his grip on Jovi loosening. "What's… what happened? Are you sick?" His eyes begged for a simple answer. The flu. Food poisoning. Anything but the truth.

Vance answered, his voice like a sheet of ice...