He stopped abruptly, then turned to Emma, the guilt in his look raw and misplaced. “We underestimated them. I… I underestimated them.”
I shook my head, refusing to let him carry that burden alone. “You are not responsible for other people’s choices.”
His shoulders squared as if bracing for a blow. “I am when I’ve backed them into a corner.”
I rose to my feet, then closed the space between us and grabbed his arms forcefully. “You didn’t force them to do anything, James. You told them to oppose the consensus, to hold off the Great Exposure as long as they could. You never once said, ‘And while you’re at it, why don’t you get your hands on a weapon of mass destruction and attack any Collective unwilling to deny a consensus?’”
No matter how much he blamed himself, this wasn’t on him.
I released him and watched as James’s fists clenched; his entire body was coiled like a predator about to strike. “I should’ve killed them all before?—”
“Before what?” I cut in, keeping my voice flat and unyielding. “Before they found the Amplifier?” I shook my head. “There was no way you could’ve known.”
“Before they hurt her!” he exploded, flinging his arm toward Emma. “I don’t give a shit about the other Collectives! I should’ve killed them all before they laid a single fucking hand on her!”
I exhaled deeply. He was spiraling, and I had no idea how to pull him back. I turned to Caden, stupidly hopeful he’d step in, that he’d say something—anything—to help.
Caden arched a brow, completely unbothered. “Gods, James, you’ve gotten a real penchant for drama since I last saw you.”
I shot him a look, as I felt my patience thinning. “Really?”
He shrugged, unrepentant. “What do you want me to do? Hold his hand? Pat his back? Then what—scratch his belly?”
“You’re an ass,” Emma hissed, not being entirely wrong.
Caden’s smile was all sharp edges, never reaching his eyes. “Never claimed I wasn’t.”
Emma’s nostrils flared, but I had to hand it to her—she kept her cool. Unlike James, who was true to form, a boiling pot of fury about to spill over.
Sensing the impending explosion, I stepped in. “When I figured out the sensors you saw were embedded with the essence of LiaPrisms, we knew we couldn’t let that technology fall into their hands. The only way to ensure it wouldn’t?” My gaze swept over them. “Destroy every last one.”
“All of them?” Emma’s voice was barely above a whisper, but the disbelief in it was loud.
James nodded. Caden, meanwhile, was staring out the window like he’d just discovered astronomy.
“How?” she asked, still trying to process it all.
James let out a breath and sank back into his chair. “As First Offensive, I only had access to the one in Cyclos. But as Leader,I was expected to travel—to go on a diplomatic tour around the world. Which meant I’d have access to every single one. And once I was close enough…” His jaw tightened. “I could destroy them all.”
Emma stared at him—struggling against the quiet rise of confusion and the unrushed bloom of understanding.
“Which is why you ran for Leadership,” she murmured, more to herself than to him.
James hesitated, measuring his words, calculating how much to reveal at once.
“Yes,” he admitted finally. “But not immediately. My reputation was…”
Caden finally turned, smirking like this was all some grand joke. “One of total destruction.”
The man had the comic timing of a graveyard.
“Coming from a peaceful pacifist like yourself, that sure means a lot,” Emma shot back, her sarcasm on point.
James ignored them both. “Anyway, with my background, Leadership was never on the table. Not unless we made it a spectacle. A grand gesture. I had to become a hero first.”
I glanced at Emma. The gears in her head were already turning, piecing it together. She would figure it out—she always did.
Her eyes narrowed. “Dale?”
