Page 123 of Scarlet Wars
I swallowed hard. “You.”
He recoiled like I’d struck him, stepping back as if the word had physically knocked the air from his lungs.
I followed, stepped forward and punched his shoulder, not hard, but hard enough to make a point.
“Where thehelldo you get off lying to me for so long?” I shouted, not giving a damn who might hear. “You told me youtorturedme. That youexperimentedon me. I’ve hadnightmares, Caden.Monthsof them. Of you! Of what you did! I hated you. I hated you for what I thought you did to me at Coastal.”
He didn’t move while his expression remained unreadable.
“And now I find out it never happened? It was all an accident? Youliedabout it? About maiming me? Who the hell lies about something like that?” My voice broke, ragged with emotion. “Do you have any idea how fucking unhinged that is?”
I was shaking now. My heart felt like it was going to crack through my ribs.
“Ihatedyou for this. I madechoicesbecause of that hate. I turned things down, I closed doors—I refused—” I choked, stopping myself.
Caden’s tone was low, but intense. “Refused what?”
“Fuck this,” I muttered, then turned back to the exit.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he snapped, stepping forward and slamming the door shut before I could reach it. “You came in here ready for war, so let’s have it out.”
“Fine,” I sneered, then whirled to face him. “Everyone I’ve met since I landed in this world has lied to me. Every single person. But you—youwere the exception. The one person who never sugar-coated anything. You were the wolf in sheep’s clothing who turned out to be theonlyone honest with me.”
The words cracked. My whole body did.
“I trusted you, Caden.”
Tears spilled over, fast and furious now. I was crying for real, full-on sobbing.
“Do you know howconfusedI was when I started to get to know you? The real you? How much ithurtto try and make sense of you? I couldn’t understand how someone so kind, sopatient, sogood, could have done that to me. I had toconvincemyself on some level you must’ve hated me. That somewhere deep down, youdespisedme enough to justify what you did.”
Caden’s expression crumbled. The anger drained from his face, replaced by…regret.
“Why?” I asked, shaking all over. “Why would you lie about that?”
His reply came softly, barely more than a breath. “It was the only way to protect Sean. Crown. Even Stephen and his plan. If our Leader had found out… If the United Chiefs had known…”
He paused, his expression going rigid. “They would’ve branded us Radicals without hesitation. No questions. Back then, we couldn’t tell them about the future we’d seen, we couldn’t risk it. Even though I gave you the name Logan Stark, there was still a chance you’d recognize me eventually. And if that happened, worst case? They’d come afterme…not Sean.”
I nodded slowly, the truth sinking in. “And me hating you was the easy price to pay.”
His nostrils flared, his voice rising fast and hard. “Easy price to pay?” He stepped toward me, every word sharper than the last. “Easy price to pay?!That’s what you think this was for me?”
My chest tightened at the sight of his rage, but I didn’t back down. “Easy enough to lie to me for more than a year, apparently.”
“Because you neededhim!” Caden shouted, as the tension rose in the room. “You needed Sean. You needed a best friend. Godsdamnit, Emma, when we met in Switzerland, you weredrowning! Everyone had lied to you. You had all that power and no idea how to control it. You’d just found out your childhood friend hadmind-rapedyou. You were hanging on by a thread. You were so desperate, you even followedmeback to Crown! And Sean was the first person youtrusted.”
His chest was heaving. “I wasn’t about to take that from you. I made a choice not to tell you when you were at Crown. And if it meant you hating me, then fine.”
“What about you?” I shouted back. “I trusted you too! You were the one person who made sense! I could’ve had…you!”
Caden’s eyes turned to ice. “Youdidhave me. More than anyone ever has.” He took another step, towering over me now. “I was there. I’m always there, every fucking time.”
His jaw flexed once, breath ragged. “Even when you freeze me out for weeks, like I’m some kind of mistake you can’t bear to admit.”
I felt the sting of guilt in my stomach, but I was too far in now. “Oh,fuck off, Caden. That’s not what this is about.”
He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “No? Because it feels a lot like you finding yet another reason to keep your distance from me.”
