"Aron?" Zen repeated slowly his voice full of deibelief. Dam* it! Until this morning they had been sure that they were one. Why was he now hearing her be close to the enemy? "You are so close to him now? You still call Kael Your Highness. You still address Lance as Your Majesty. But the Dark Lord? You call him by his name?"
Zen paused, as if barely able to keep his own thoughts straight at her casual mention of Aron. The familiarity of it unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
Emira drew in a deep breath and clenched her hands at her sides, grounding herself. "Zen, listen to me. Aron and I… we were childhood friends in my past life before everything went wrong. Before all of this. We grew up together. He was my master. He was my family..."
