Page 77 of Scarlet Wars
I’d sworn it to her, and that oath sat heavier on my chest than any chain the Chiefs or Rachel or anyone else could fasten.
One way or another, Emma would have her vengeance.
And I would burn through anyone—humans, or magi—who tried to take that from her.
EMMA
I’d thought he’d be still angry at me. For choosing James over him. For giving in to the Chiefs’ threat, even if only as a stopgap until I could untangle myself from that absurd deal I made in a moment of paralyzing fear for Sean’s life.
For admitting I was drawn to him and then declaring it couldn’t possibly mean more.
But then he’d helped me pry those memories out of that human. And now, here he was, backing me against Rachel, the very woman I’d assumed he’d run to the second my rejection left my mouth.
Before I could speak up again, Rachel’s gaze sharpened, locking onto me. The whole air in the room seemed to draw taut around her next words. “Now… Correct me if I’m wrong,but did your haze appear visible when you translated inside the Metasphere?”
With that, the room changed and my stomach twisted with pure and instant anxiety.
Crap.
Caden was the first to move, a half step forward, instinct pulling him before thought could. James followed suit, then Jackson and Sean, four bodies tensing around me like a shield, their movements automatic, precise.
Protective.
Rachel rolled her eyes, but there was no bite in it. “Oh my gods, you guys are so godsdamn dramatic. I’m notthreateningher. We’re all on the same side here, in case you haven’t noticed.” Her tone was dry but edged. “Though your reactions do confirm I’m on the right track.”
I didn’t look at them, only at Rachel, and for one long, charged second—despite the resentment I still carried for how casually perfect she seemed, despite the way she tossed flirtations toward Caden like confetti—I felt it.
That pulse of instinct, that deep, gut-level certainty.
I could trust her.
So, I nodded. “You saw right. And if you checked your LiaPrism, you’d see my haze also registered.”
Her jaw slackened, only slightly. “You’re traceable…inside a Collective?”
I nodded again. “Yes.” I hesitated long enough for James to issue a low, warning grunt beside me. “But not outside.”
The roomexploded.
“What the hell does that even mean?”
“All this time?”
“You didn’t think to mention that sooner?”
I took a deep breath, steadying myself as the weight of everything I was about to say settled on my chest.
Then, slowly, I began to recount everything I’d learned about myself since my retrieval from the Human World.
How Stephen and his blue portal had shown us a glimpse of the future.
A future where magi were all but extinct. A future where my son, Alek, would be the only hope left. Not because of power, but because of what he carried: an inherited, untraceable translation which couldn’t be controlled, replicated, or erased.
A future where the Krait was the spark of resistance.
I told them about the Chiefs’ visit to Kanata C. Not about the deal we’d struck—that stayed locked inside me as I’d promised—but I laid bare their knowledge of the future.
The rest—the truth about Julian, the forced True Bond—was too heavy to put into words. And to be honest, I was terrified of what they’d see if I said it out loud. That I wasn’t a “real” maga. That I’d been born human and had been mind-raped into this life.
