Page 197 of Scarlet Wars
“So,” I said, dragging the word out, “tell me, my friend, to what do we owe this pleasure?”
Jackson took a seat on Caden’s bed, ignoring the fact that Caden was still lounging in his chair like a smug cat. “I know you guys probably had…other things on your mind these last few days,” he said, shooting me a look, “but have you by any chance thought about the people behind our abduction a.k.a. the bubble?”
I glanced away, a sudden wave of guilt tightening my chest. Right. The war. The whole saving the world situation. Hadn’t exactly thought about any of it lately, except for—Caden.
Who, for the record, didn’t look remotely guilty about any of it.
No, that son of a bitch looked nothing but positively gleeful.
I cleared my throat, forcing myself back on track. “I’ve actually been working on this theory,” I said slowly. “That the person behind the bubble—the one who showed me that future—was trying to do me a favor.”
Jackson’s jaw dropped. “A favor?”
I nodded. “I know the whole sedating-and-abducting-you part was…objectively villainous,” I admitted, “but when you really think about it, no one got hurt. You were all properly fed. All they wanted was for me to see a future where Caden and I might conceive the Krait. And when I did exactly what they asked, they let us go.”
Jackson went still. “When you put it like that…”
“And now we know the creator of the bubble built in some kind of safeguard so Emma can translate beneath it,” Caden added, clearly convinced by the same conclusion.
I lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug. “Which still doesn’t bring us any closer to figuring out who they are.”
Jackson bit the inside of his cheek, thinking. “Before the humans declared open season on Emma Thompson,” he said carefully, “you guys had other theories about who created the bubble. Any of those leads ever pan out?”
Caden shook his head. “No. I heard James tried to nex Cara again, but I don’t know if he managed to reach her.”
I frowned. “Who’s Cara?”
Caden blinked at me like I’d asked what oxygen was. “Cara Sinclair. Rachel’s sister?”
I blinked right back. “Rachel has asister?”
Jackson and Caden exchanged a look. “We must’ve talked about this while you were still out,” Jackson said.
“Riveting,” I deadpanned. “So who is she? Do we like her?”
Caden hesitated. “She’s… Rachel’s unhinged sister. Currently leading the Radicals.”
My jaw dropped. “The Radicals? As in the magi who stole an Amplifier last year and tried to blow up our Collectives?”
“The very same,” Caden said, looking way too calm about it.
“Yeah, okay. Not a fan,” I muttered. “So what does she have to do with the person behind the bubble?”
“She claimed to know his identity,” Caden said. “Said it was a Collaborator, the same one who handed the Radicals the Amplifier, once upon a time.”
I chewed that over for a beat. “Then why don’t we haul her in? Interrogate her like we did that human about my arrest warrant?”
Jackson’s brow went up. “You want toleakher?”
I made a face. “Leak her? Ew, no. What the hell, man.”
Caden laughed softly. “’Leaking’ is what Orators call the Offensive style of interrogation. They pretend mind-reading is immoral, which is fair. Though, I’m a massive fan of the technique myself.”
“Big surprise there,” Jackson mumbled under his breath.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, sharper than I intended, irritation bubbling up from somewhere I didn’t even know existed until that moment.
Jackson’s brows lifted in surprise, his expression caught somewhere between confusion and amusement. “Only that Caden—being First Offensive and all—would naturally stand behind an Offensive method,” he said carefully. “That’s all I meant.”
