"You killed them!"
I roared, my gaze locked on Laden as the accusation cut through the heavy silence.
"Your parents! You murdered them!"
His face froze in disbelief, shock rendering him almost statuesque, an expected reaction. For he remained blissfully ignorant of the truth that now hung between us.
"I witnessed it, Laden! I saw you end their lives deep in the forest."
With every syllable, I stepped forward into danger, fully aware that the revelation might shatter the fragile veneer of his composure.
Laden's reply came out in a ragged whisper, "You're making no sense." Yet even in his feeble retort, the dread coiling behind his eyes betrayed him. A mixture of terror, regret, and the dawning realization of the unspoken past.
"Of course you deny it, you coward," I spat, my tone laced with bitter irony. "Just as you pretended innocence when you took the lives of your own, deceiving every member of your clan with tales of savage beasts attacking your kin."
