Page 12 of Cerulean Truth (Sapere #1)

“Emma,” he pressed, “Unfortunately we are not here to offer you a job or anything like that, we are not here to offer you anything you can refuse. We are here because we want to make it clear you have powers, and that having these powers to translate poses certain risks, not only to yourself but also to those around you. We can teach you to handle these powers, which will take a certain amount of time and energy. It will be a full-time occupation during the coming years…” He tried to explain it to her as carefully as he could but frankly, I thought he was way too gentle with her and I had to restrain myself not to start yelling.

She shook her head again. “I’m very sorry but I’m not interested, my career is all consuming and I do not have the time to work ‘on my magic’ in my non existing free time,” she said in a demeaning tone.

“Even in the event your assertions hold validity, it is worth noting this so-called translation you speak of, merely served the purpose of preserving my life.”

This woman was testing my limits.

“I mean if ‘it’ only comes out when my life’s in danger, I really see no reason to comply with your request,” she concluded.

In that moment I realized two important things. One, she seemed way too confident about her translation kicking in solely during life-or-death scenarios, which made me certain she'd been down that road before but was refusing to tell us.

Two, she had gotten more under my skin in those thirty minutes than anyone had ever done before, and my patience was wearing thin.

Her obstinate refusal to understand what we were trying to tell her, combined with her arrogance, was annihilating the last straw of patience I was holding on to.

I was about ready to drag her across the room and spank her in the bathroom.

Hell, with that kind of attitude, I would’ve done it then and there.

In a fit of frustration, I nearly hissed through my teeth.

"I don't give a damn about what you want or don't want.

Your career as a lawyer is toast. You're more than two decades behind in your maga training, and you're fucking lucky your powers haven't hurt anyone, including yourself.

There's no way to be sure you'll only translate in life-or-death situations, and there's one way this convo is going to play out.”

I paused shortly for effect. “You're quitting your job, saying your goodbyes to friends and family, and coming with us to start your training pronto.

It's about keeping yourself and everyone you give a damn about safe.

If you don't cooperate, we're going to make you come home and in the worst-case scenario, we'll take you out to safeguard the world from your uncontrollable, spiraling magic," I stressed the last part with as much conviction as I could muster.

I wasn't exactly sure what I hoped to achieve by threatening her life.

Maybe I was trying to be as ruthless and biting as I could, trying to break through her shell even a little bit.

But her expression didn't waver, not even a flicker of reaction to my not-so-subtle threats.

She simply gazed right back at me, silence hanging in the air.

Then, a smile tugged at her lips, but it was far from genuine.

It didn't reach her eyes, held no warmth—it was more like a warning, as if she was telling me not to push my luck with her. And fuck, if that wasn’t hot.

Then she surprised me by completely ignoring me, turning her head only to Stephen and shaking his hand.

"I am very sorry to disappoint you," she said facing him, “but I cannot do what you are asking of me.” She got up and made ready to leave.

I wanted to threaten her more, tell her again how we would take her forcefully if she was not willing to come with us, but Stephen, anticipating my reaction, grabbed her wrist and pleaded desperately once more:

“Wait! Emma, you’re making a mistake; you have to think this through. Now your magic has manifested, it will come out more often. You will end up hurting the people you love because you’ve never learned how to be in control of this.”

She paused, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

Stephen continued swiftly. “Look, I’m not going to be here for the next few days, but James is nearby.

At least take his phone number. Just think about it, and if you want to talk, call him.

Don’t hesitate. Please understand how important this is.

” He was pleading with her, again. He knew if she wouldn’t comply, I had no choice but to report her to the Council.

Then she threw him a softer look, as if she was finally grasping what he was trying to tell her, giving him a short nod.

I quickly took out my Nexus to nex her my info.

She glanced at it and raised an eyebrow. “What’s that? Your wand?” she quipped.

Stephen smiled more kindly than I would have. “We don’t have wands, this is solely for communication and travel purposes. It allows us to portal through space and to communicate in the spoken and the unspoken, with each other and with humans.”

She frowned. “How does one communicate unspoken words?”

“You have heard of non-verbal communication, right?” I snapped, not giving a fuck about Stephen's glare. I was so done with this experiment.

“Nexus allows communication of all our senses,” Stephen said in softer tones, “like sounds, tastes, smells, basically. We can also convey our emotions through it, like fear, sadness, love. One sends it out, the other one receives.”

“So, you guys have emotional phones. How magical,” she responded, her voice loaded with sarcasm, but a hint of curiosity showed through, which she was of course too proud to admit.

“Not really the same,” I mumbled dryly as I clicked my personal info onto her phone without her having to accept it. Her eyes widened at the sudden appearance of my name and number on her phone, but she still kept her mouth tightly shut. She stepped away and before I could follow up, she took off.

Stephen moaned and I shook my head. “This is not going to end well, Stephen,” I said warningly. “We really should report this.”

“Not just yet, James. She is smart, she will come around, you’ll see,” he said but he sounded a lot less certain of it than he had before.