Chapter 19: Hollow Blade
The moment I saw Jackson’s name stamped on that file—Hunter: Jackson V. Kane. Status: Active Asset—something inside me snapped.
A pulse of heat. An electric storm. The scream of every buried memory rising at once.
He was there.
He’d always been there.
And he’d lied every step of the way.
\---
I found him in the east courtyard, sharpening a blade in the pale garden light.
The world was too still, too quiet—like the earth was holding its breath.
Jackson looked up as I approached, his hands pausing mid-stroke. He didn't flinch when I threw the file at him. It hit his chest and dropped to the cobblestones.
The knife in his hand fell next.
He didn’t reach for either.
He just looked at me like he’d been waiting for this.
I didn’t waste time. “You planned it.”
A long silence.
Then: “I didn’t plan it.”
I stepped closer. “You were on the op. Operation Hollow Blade. You were in Silverlake the night my family was torn apart.”
“I was brought in late. I didn’t give the order.”
“Bullshit,” I hissed. “That’s your signature on the last page. You signed off on it. You helped execute it. You stood by and watched while they—”
My voice cracked.
I couldn’t say the words.
So I saw them instead.
\---
FLASH.
My mother’s face, bloody and beautiful, whispering “Stay quiet.”
FLASH.
My father’s body, convulsing as claws tore through him.
FLASH.
Caleb’s small frame—crumpled, broken, still reaching for me.
I blinked them away, swallowing the lump in my throat. But the rage remained. Anchoring me.
Jackson bent to pick up the file, flipping it open. “I tried to stop it.”
“Then why didn’t you?” I asked, voice low and shaking. “Why did I find this instead of an apology?”
“I didn’t know the truth until it was too late,” he said. “I believed the intel. I thought your father was working with a rogue cell. We were told it was a clean sweep. A strike on sympathizers.”
“You killed my family because of a rumor?”
He didn’t answer.
Didn’t need to.
“I was ten, Jackson.” My voice cracked again. “Ten years old. And you let me believe you saved me. That you found me by chance. That you were some kind of hero.”
“I did save you,” he said, louder now. “I saw what they did to your home. What they did to your family. And I made a choice. I took you. I trained you. I turned you into something that could survive.”
“You turned me into a weapon,” I whispered. “Not a person. Not a daughter. Just something sharp enough to finish what you started.”
He looked down at the blade in his hand. “And you did survive. You thrived. You became stronger than any of us ever imagined. You want to hate me? Fine. I deserve that. But don’t act like I didn’t give you the tools to stand on your own.”
A bitter laugh escaped my throat.
“And now you want credit for my trauma?”
I turned away, shaking with fury.
“I trusted you,” I whispered. “You were all I had left. And the whole time, you were the reason I had nothing.”
Jackson stepped closer. “Then finish it.”
“What?”
He looked at me steadily. “You’re not that little girl in the closet anymore. You’ve got a blade, a title, a cause. So go ahead, Roxanne. If you want revenge, take it.”
I stared at him.
Every instinct screamed yes.
Every broken memory screamed now.
My hand found the hilt of my blade.
I stepped forward.
And stopped.
Not because he didn’t deserve it.
But because I did.
Because I wasn’t going to let him define the last piece of me.
“I’m not like you,” I said, voice shaking.
And I walked away.
\---
Aidan was waiting at the far end of the hall.
He’d seen it all.
He didn’t speak.
Just followed me through the corridors, up the stairs, past the rooms filled with secrets and ghosts.
We ended up in my chambers.
I didn’t turn the lights on.
Just stood by the window, fingers trembling at my sides.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“No.”
I turned around.
“I need to tell you the truth.”
He stepped closer, cautious.
I swallowed.
“I lied to you, Aidan. I didn’t come here to track a rogue werewolf. I came here to infiltrate your pack.”
His jaw clenched.
“Jackson told me your pack was behind my family’s murder. That someone in your ranks gave the order. I thought… if I got close enough, I could find the truth. I could take them down from the inside.”
Silence.
Aidan’s expression was unreadable.
“I never meant to—” I stopped. “I didn’t expect you.”
He stepped back, just once.
“You married me under false pretenses.”
“Yes.”
“You stood beside me. Took the vow. Slept in my house. Wore my mark.”
“I had to—”
“No,” he said quietly. “You chose to.”
The silence between us grew dense.
Then he added, “How much of this was real?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “It started as a mission. But somewhere along the way… you stopped being part of the plan.”
His expression cracked—just a little.
“And now?”
I stepped closer. “Now I don’t know who I am anymore without this war. I don’t know if I’m allowed to want more.”
He exhaled shakily. “You should’ve told me.”
“I was afraid you’d hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“But you’re angry.”
He didn’t deny it.
He just nodded once.
“I need time,” he said.
Then he left.
And for the first time since I was ten years old, I felt truly alone.
\---
The days that followed were ice.
Aidan didn’t come to bed.
Didn’t touch me.
Didn’t yell. Didn’t confront.
But the silence was worse than shouting.
He avoided me like I was fire and he was already burned.
I kept myself busy—training, strategy, patrols—but every room I walked into felt like a trial.
Warriors looked at me differently.
Some whispered.
Some didn’t even bother pretending.
The Luna had secrets.
And secrets had consequences.
\---
Late one night, I returned to my study.
I hadn’t touched the file in days. Couldn’t bear to look at Jackson’s signature again.
But I couldn’t ignore it either.
So I opened it.
And found something I hadn’t noticed before.
A sealed envelope, buried beneath the report.
Unmarked.
I opened it.
Inside was a photo.
Grainy. Black and white.
A child in a closet.
Me.
Tears on her cheeks.
A wolf-shaped shadow outside the slats of the door.
My stomach turned.
On the back, in blood-red ink:
“We never missed. You were left alive on purpose.”
And just beneath it:
“You weren’t the only one.”