Page 289 of Scarlet Wars
The High Chief’s impatience rang clear in his voice. “That is hardly proof of anything. I see no cause to revisit my decision. This matter is closed, mister Stone.”
Stephen smiled then, but there was no warmth in it. Only slyness.
“What if I told you the same path where Emma chooses Caden,” he said slowly, “the same path where he fathers her child, the same path where he dies…”
He paused, letting the silence tighten.
“Is also the path whereyoudie.”
The High Chief straightened his spine, suddenly fully alert. “What do you mean,I die?”
“Not just you personally,” Stephen replied, sounding almost clinical. “All of you. Every United Chief.”
His gaze locked onto the Chief’s.
“As I said, Emma’s choice is the linchpin. That path leads directly to your deaths. The end of the United Chiefs. A governing body that will never rise again.”
“Bullshit,” the High Chief snarled. “You have no proof of this.”
Stephen’s mouth curved, thin and humorless. “Oh, but I do. And if you’re willing to jump with me through one of my portals, I can show you exactly how I found out.”
The High Chief’s jaw tightened, fingers dragging slowly across his chin as silence stretched. Calculation flickered behind his eyes.
“And you’re certain?” he asked at last.
Stephen didn’t answer with words.
He lifted his hand.
A blue portal tore open beside him, hissing as it split the air like a fresh wound, light spilling out, unstable and humming with promise and threat alike.
“Jump with me,” my so-called father figure said quietly. “Let me show you.”
The High Chief hesitated, only a heartbeat.
Then he stepped forward.
And the world ripped sideways.
We now foundourselves in a dense forest, shadows carving across the ground as branches whipped against my skin.
Ahead, a future version of Emma and myself tore through the undergrowth, chased, or maybe chasing.
Her hair was darker, streaked with fierce red and gold, more lioness than ever.
The other me looked exactly the same. Rugged, handsome, cocky, and invincible.
We trailed after them, watching as they carved through branches like they owned the damn forest.
“Stop worrying,” Caden tossed over his shoulder.
“Stop rifling through my head,” Emma shot back, glaring.
“Can’t help it. It’s loud in there,” Caden quipped without missing a step.
“Well maybe if you respected the concept of privacy?—”
“There is no privacy between us, woman. You didn’t want that, remember?” My future self winked, the smug bastard.
