“Are you saying that my parents—” My throat grew dry, my tongue nearly paralyzed. “That my brother—” But I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t even think it, because if I was wrong, and this was all one giant misunderstanding or some twisted game that he was doing for his amusement . . . It would destroy me. His eyes softened. “Yes. They’re alive, Ilara. They’ve always been alive. I never killed them.”
