There was something Xerxes was hiding. His truth wasn’t a whole but fragments. Why would Lucien do that? I was sure Sofia was his mate, he had never mentioned her, but I knew Lucien was the kind of man to devote himself wholly to the person loved. He did that to me. Keeping his desires aside, Lucien was always there for me. I soon learn that love was constant and anger was temporary, that this was the way real bonds were. He was my father and my mother.

I did not believe him and Xerxes sensed it as he pushed me to the bed with little force. Now that a...