Page 75 of Cerulean Truth (Sapere #1)

FORTY

JAMES

"I sincerely apologize for the interruption, my boy," Maurice began, his tone serious, "but urgent news has just come in."

My heart started hammering in my chest. Fuck, they must have discovered Emma's attack on the Radicals last night.

What else could it be? If the Council was after her, we'd have to fight our way out of Cyclos.

But where could we possibly go? Emma's translation was untraceable in the Human World, so it had to be. ..

"Nothing to worry about, James," Maurice interrupted my frantic thoughts, a smile breaking across his face, "We actually received some good news today." Maurice beamed, as Maria joined the conversation through the Nexus.

Oh . Couldn’t blame me for not seeing that coming.

For the past month, every meeting had been overshadowed by a sense of impending doom.

Updates on the rising numbers of Resistants, the violent actions of Radicals, our constant search for a possible mole in the Council, all while protecting Emma's secret and Emma herself—good news had been in short supply.

"As you're aware, we reached out to the leaders of other Collectives to address concerns about the Resistants and Radicals.

While we didn't disclose Emma's identity ourselves, they were already aware of her existence.

Don't worry," Maria reassured me, sensing my instant dread, "they only know a twenty-three-year-old maga was found in our vicinity, nothing more. There's no hint of her 'traceability.'"

I had always expected there would be some gossip about the oldest maga ever retrieved. I waved Maria on; this wasn’t exactly urgent enough to justify a summons..

"We've received word from Area 17. The Elder has decided to intervene in the international consensus and plans to visit several Collectives, including ours, to gauge our stance on the matter.

He's unaware of last month's incident with Emma and the Radicals, but we intend to inform him upon his arrival.

We would appreciate your presence when we discuss it with him, of course," Maria concluded.

Maurice and Maria waited for my response, but I was at a loss for words. My mind was too consumed, struggling to keep my jaw from hitting the floor.

The Elder was making his way to our Collective... Was I supposed to somehow wrap my mind around that?

I wasn’t easily star-struck, but The Elder was in a league of his own.

The most accomplished magus in the world, he was at least two thousand years old, with the exact number shrouded in mystery.

Born in Senegal, trained in Cyclos (like me), and specializing as an Offensive (also like me), Leader of Cyclos during the dark ages (like I would be), he had fought in every major conflict, from the magi's Battle of '59 to the human World War II.

Despite his Offensive training, he had transitioned to a Specialist role a few cycles ago—impressing even Stephen.

The Elder hadn’t returned to this part of the world since his first cycle. The fact that he’d even consider visiting our Collective was an honor beyond measure.

Trying to keep my composure in front of the Maumars, I casually asked, "Oh, so The Elder is coming here?" I aimed for a neutral expression, but judging by Maurice's grin, I clearly missed the mark.

"Yes, he's coming here. We'll have to inform the entire Collective and arrange some festivities for the day of.

It's exciting, though; I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him," Maurice shared thoughtfully.

Maria shrugged, seemingly unimpressed, and I suspected even The Elder wouldn't make much of an impact on her.

But I hadn't been this excited since…well, since meeting Emma. Meeting The Elder, or Julian—his actual name—would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Now, for the urgency: we received a message from him, and he'll be arriving next week on Monday. We need to announce his visit to the rest of the Collective tomorrow. We're counting on you to coordinate his visit as we expect him to stay for at least three weeks."

I was ecstatic at the prospect of meeting Julian.

Hell, I had been waiting for this moment practically my entire life.

And now, he would get to meet us—me and Emma.

My mind couldn’t help but drift back to this afternoon—how soft she had felt in my arms, how her curves had fit perfectly in my hands, how her lips?—

"So, can you do that?" Maurice interrupted my thoughts abruptly. I nodded quickly, assuring him I would do all that was necessary.

"Have you visited our newly arrived guests?" I asked, subtly nodding to my message from the night before.

Maria frowned. “About that—what the hell happened last night?”

“Ambush,” I replied curtly. “I’ll interrogate them later today.”

Maurice nodded. “You do that. They were very close to our borders. If they were after Emma again, you might be the most motivated to figure out their motives.” He gave me a knowing wink.

I gave a quick nod in response to his reference to my kiss with Emma, eager to make my escape. Determined to gather more information on the Radicals, I forced myself to head to the Cave before returning to Emma.

Walking through the Cave, I homed in on the seven newly joined prisoners.

Remembering the one who had spoken to me outside The Fuse, I started with him, though without much hope of obtaining actual results.

"You have no idea what you've interrupted," he said out of the blue entering the interrogation room, entirely surprising me.

"Then enlighten me," I suggested, gesturing for him to sit in the chair before me.

He huffed, "You wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain it."

I shrugged. "Then there's no harm in trying, is there?"

"You think you protected something last night, but all you did was sign all of our death certificates instead of one."

"The one being Emma's?" I pressed. He didn't respond, but it was clear as day.

"He's angry you didn't deliver, isn't he?" I tried my luck. He flinched, for a tenth of a second, but his flinch revealed enough. Whoever "he" was, “he” was clearly still chasing after her.

"Why? Why her?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"Because her blood is the only thing that can stop all this," he spat.

"Why?" I pressed again, but he scoffed and shook his head.

I focused on his mental walls, pushing them down as much as I could.

The thought of Emma being targeted sent a shiver up my spine and I used as much emotion from it to translate away his blockage.

I got only two words out of him, but they were all I needed.

“Untraceable translation”

Godsdamnit, I knew it! I felt relief at finally knowing for sure what they had on her, and utter panic at the same time. They knew about her untraceable translation, how long would I be able to keep her safe? And how the hell did they find out?

"You're so against the Great Exposure, then?" I tried changing the angle, not showing him what intel I’d just gotten out of him.

He squinted. "You want to expose us to humans, tell war-minded creatures with nuclear weapons in their arsenal that we, magi, peaceful people with magic, exist. You don't think that's a tad idiotic?"

“By all means, enlighten me how Emma’s blood would be the answer to that?” I replied, glad he kept the conversation going.

He snorted. “Like you don’t know.”

I smiled dangerously. “I’d like to know how you know.”

He huffed, but a second later, the stoic look on his face returned. It was clear he was done talking. I attempted to penetrate his mental walls, but they were too high for me to succeed, and I was too eager to return to Emma to keep trying.

"So, you were right?" Maria's face lit up with a hint of pride as we conversed through the Nexus.

I nodded. "Yeah, it seems they want to use her blood to sow enough doubt about the guarantees we could offer humans and recruit more Resistants that way."

Maria sighed, her expression turning serious. "This means we have a mole… We can't let this information get out, James. If it leaks, not only will Emma be in grave danger, but the entire operation will have been in vain."

Again, I nodded in agreement. "I won't tell anyone."

"Not even Emma," Maria instructed sternly.

I hesitated; that directive didn't sit well with me.

"James, you cannot tell Emma we have a mole in the Council.

You understand that, right? In order to flush him out, no one can know about it!

Plus, if word gets out to the Resistants or Radicals on how Emma might be the solution to thwart the entire Exposure, they will all come for her. You cannot tell another soul."

Fuck, she was right. Compartmentalizing information was paramount in every mission. But still, keeping this from Emma? It didn't feel right.

"James?" Maria reiterated, her insistence cutting through the air.

"Fine, I won't tell," I promised reluctantly. “For now,” I hissed, making it clear there was a time-limit on my promise. Maria gave me a curt nod in understanding, then said goodbye.

I checked my Nexus only notice Maurice had responded with a concise message.

“Protect her at all costs.”

I had no intention of doing otherwise.

Walking back to the Universitas from the Cave, I refocused on the real matter at hand: that fucking kiss.

Why had I been so stubborn about letting my feelings for Emma in? I’d been such a wuss about it, a giant wuss even, too scared to really care about anyone since Stephen, always fearing I wouldn't be enough in the end.

That kiss, however, turned out to be... eye-opening at the least, life-changing at best, and it was time for some hard-earned honesty.

I sighed quietly as I contemplated how I had kept everyone in my life at arm's length, how I had been battling through major trust issues combined with fears of abandonment and an obvious attachment disorder.

Had I known this my entire life? Yes. Had I cared? No, not until Emma.