Page 299 of Scarlet Wars
Out of nowhere, the world tore sideways.
There was no clean break between memories, no fade, no warning. Only a small “whooshing’ sound, one really had to listen for.
One moment snapped out of existence, and the next yanked me forward, like being hauled through someone else’s skull by the spine. Images bled into one another before I could blink.
The air stank of old magic and newer guilt. Maurice’s haze curled along the walls like smoke that refused to fade.
A Nexus blinked to life in front of me before Julian’s face appeared.
Different than I remembered, colder, more detached.
“Stephen’s retrieving Emma as we speak. You need to get here as fast as possible.” Maurice’s voice—myvoice— ripped through the air like a command. No pleasantries. Only worry masked as control.
Julian snorted through the connection. “Why? She hasn’t trained in over twenty-three years. She’ll hardly be a threat.”
I gritted my teeth before I spoke. “Stephen’s plan is to have James Walker train her.”
Julian shrugged, unimpressed. “And?”
“You think I want someone withourtranslation coursing through her veins trained by that hothead?”
“Hardly my problem.”
My hand slammed against the desk. The metal shuddered, and a crack snaked across its surface as my haze flared around my arm, vibrating with fury.
“Youwillportal into Cyclos in the next few weeks. Settle into the ‘Elder’ role. And you will keep an eye on her. She’s being hunted by Radicals, Julius!”
Julian rolled his eyes. “I checked up on her when she was a kid, like you asked. Once was enough. You don’t get to order me around anymore.”
“No?” I leaned closer, my eyes gleaming. “You either show up here, or I tell the United Chiefs everything about your little experiments.”
That stopped him cold. His smirk dropped. His lips parted slightly. “You wouldn’t.”
“Fucking try me.”
The image shifted again—jerked sideways—before I could even begin to process what an unrepentant, manipulative asshole the man I’d once thought was my best friend really was.
And then I was somewhere else.
Dim moonlight spilled across silk sheets. Maurice lay half-upright in a massive bed, his bare chest rising and falling with short, restless breaths.
Maria, Cyclos’s former Leader, lay beside me, one arm draped over my stomach, her fingers tracing idle patterns across my skin.
“Emma’s struggling,” I said, threaded with tension. “And James is just… He can’t handle it. He’s not ready.”
Maria shifted against the pillows, her tone gentle but firm.
“James is perfectly adequate. You worry too much, like every father does.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s the damper I placed on her translation. He doesn’t know about it, and he’s pushing her too hard. He doesn’t understand what she’s capable of, or what could go wrong. If it activates too fast…”
My voice trailed off. The fear in it didn’t match the control in my body, but it was there.
Maria reached up and cupped my cheek, forcing me to look at her.
“She won’t break. She’syourdaughter.”
“Which is exactly why I’m scared,” I murmured.
