Page 79 of Cerulean Truth (Sapere #1)

FORTY-TWO

JAMES

How had I idolized this figure for so long? Why even? Because he was old? Because he was an Offensive? It was completely ridiculous! I cursed him and myself to the deepest pits of whatever hellish reality.

“I gather you and Emma are close?” he tried to initiate contact while we were portaling to the Basilica where the Council had organized a walking brunch to welcome this moron.

My jaw tightened at hearing her name on his lips. I stared back at him without answering, narrowing my eyes, wordlessly threatening him.

He offered an apologetic smile. "I'm not trying to come between you two, James. I'm not romantically interested in her," he tried to reassure me, though his attempt fell flat.

I kept my silence until we reached the Council. He had no business asking about me and her. Who the fuck did he think he was?

"Now, here's a wonderful sight!" Maurice clapped as I entered the room with The Elder by my side. "Our oldest Leader and our newest one."

I tried to force a smile, but it was drowned in a wave of anger.

"Julian," I said through gritted teeth, "may I present to you our current Leader, Maria and her husband, Maurice."

Julian bowed to the Maumars, a gesture I thought to be utterly ridiculous.

"We are delighted to have you as our honored guest," Maria smiled, "and although we would love to discuss everything with you, there are pressing matters that demand our attention first. This Council has been made aware of some very serious dangers and threats, some even directed against one of our own.

.." She glanced at me. "...which, surely, you can understand we would appreciate your insights on, especially considering your experience with the Battle of '59. "

Julian nodded, "Of course, let's talk."

While he was guided to a seat, I discreetly grabbed Maurice's arm, signaling him to speak with me in private.

He frowned but followed me out the door.

"I don’t think it's wise to disclose the results of our interrogations to The Elder," I mumbled under my breath, closing the door behind us.

Maurice looked at me, puzzled. "Why? Don't you trust him?"

I shook my head. "I'm not saying that. It's just, we don't have anything concrete yet. All we've learned about Emma's abduction is that a man was behind it, intending to use her untraceable blood to prevent our exposure and we have a mole inside the Council. We don’t know the how, why, or who. It’s too vague to disclose, so why take the risk?”

Maurice nodded slowly. “I’ll discuss it with Maria. If she’s on board, we’ll follow your suggestion.”

The next few hours were dedicated to recounting the events of the past few months, from Emma’s arrival to the revelation of her non-existent tracking—which I hated sharing with him.

We talked about the Radicals and Resistants, and he enlightened us on the dangers of magi fighting other magi, drawing from his experiences as a survivor of the Battle of ‘59. Brag much?

To my satisfaction, we refrained from revealing anything about the mysterious “he” we knew nothing about, the existence of a mole or the attempted "blood theft" on the night of the reception.

Since Emma herself wasn't privy to any of that, it seemed entirely wrong to share this information with a third party anyway.

As the meeting concluded, the darkness outside matched my exhaustion. All I yearned for was to find Emma, to kiss her and to make sure this newcomer hadn't changed anything between us.

I tried nexing her but she didn’t answer.

"Goodnight, James," Julian smiled as we walked out together. I offered a brief nod, acknowledging his presence without reciprocating his sentiment.

Trying Emma's contact again yielded no response. My patience waned, and a moment later, I portaled to the Universitas.

Standing in front of her dorm, I realized I was possibly acting petty and jealous, behaving like an insecure boyfriend. But I couldn't care less; I had to see her.

I knocked on her door, and when she didn't respond immediately, I forced her door open. I was that desperate to talk to her.

When her room was revealed as empty, red-hot anger and frustration burst within me, and I had to take a few deep breaths before closing the door again.

"James?"

I quickly turned around and saw her approaching the room, sweaty and in her training outfit, clearly coming straight from the training room. I was extremely relieved and happy to see her, especially without a certain old individual. I closed the distance between us in two large strides.

"What are you..." I cut her off, slamming my lips onto hers.

I kissed her fervently, right then and there in the hallway, not caring about anything else but the feeling of her soft body against mine.

My kiss was rough, a claim, marking her as irrevocably mine.

The tremors that coursed through my body when our lips met were overwhelming.

It felt like an electric charge shooting through me, every nerve ending exploding with sensation.

My hands gripped her tighter as I pulled her closer, the intensity of our connection only growing.

The vibrations caused by our kiss sent me into a state of excitement I had never experienced before.

I pressed harder, nudging her lips to part with a demanding swipe of my tongue. She yielded, and I delved in, our tongues colliding with unfiltered hunger.

The scent of her, the taste of her and the feel of her were fucking intoxicating. She matched my fervor, meeting my every move with equal passion. My hands roamed her body feverishly, wanting to feel her every curve, every inch.

Closer. I need her closer.

Her fingers glided frantically through my hair, and I pushed her against the nearest wall I could find, my body shielding hers completely. She moaned softly into my mouth, and the sound shot through me like gasoline to a fire, making me groan in response, making me nearly lose my shit.

Fuck, I needed her more than I needed air to breathe—my mind racing with every way I’d make her mine if we weren’t in the middle of this hallway.

Realizing that if I didn’t stop now, I wouldn’t stop at all, I forced myself to pull back, the space between us feeling like a punishment. I released her slowly, still catching my breath, every part of me protesting the loss of contact.

Emma looked up at me, her chest rising and falling, and flashed a sly smile. "That was… unexpected. Very welcome…" She gave a playful wink. "…but unexpected."

I smirked in relief and winked back, feeling ten times lighter than I had all day. "Do you want to go to the Cube for a drink?" I asked, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Uhm, sure. Give me twenty minutes to shower and change?"

I nodded. Hell, I'd wait all night if need be.

"Take your time; I'll wait for you by the Touchstone."

She cocked her head, clearly considering something. "Why don't you...wait in my room? I can get ready in the bathroom and finish up in my lavatory..."

I raised a brow. Interesting .

"So we can talk ," she clarified, shaking her head, clearly reading me like a book.

I grinned, not feeling the least bit ashamed of my thoughts. "Sounds great. I'll wait for you in your room."

She playfully punched me, let me into her room, and went back out with a whole load of fresh clothes.

I killed fifteen minutes studying—really studying—her room for the first time ever.

A few pictures were now showing off the people in her life—her parents, human friends I didn’t recognize, even Enya made the cut.

A bit disappointed not to spot one of me, but then again, where would she even gotten a picture of me?

There were books scattered all over the floor. Classic stuff like Jane Austen, trashy novels, and volumes on translation and other magi crap.

Picking up some empty water bottles lying around, I realized Emma was a real slob and I had no idea why, but it made me grin like an idiot.

My thoughts got interrupted by a loud knock. Weird? Surely Emma wouldn’t knock at her own door?

"Emma, you in there?" an annoying voice boomed from the other side.

My blood went from zero to boiling in a nanosecond. Dark shades of red and black flashed before my eyes. I clenched my jaw so hard I thought it might crack, and my hand involuntarily turned into a fist. Julian. What the fuck was he doing here?

I swung the door open, my glare slicing through him.

He looked genuinely surprised by my presence (the irony). "Oh, James, hi. So sorry, didn't know you were here. I just wanted to see if Emma wanted to go out for a drink or something, catch up on old times, you know?" He smiled.

He. Smiled .

It took every ounce of willpower not to wipe that smug smile off his face.

"She's going out with me tonight," I growled.

"Martin?" I heard Emma's voice behind him.

He turned quickly, "Hey, Emma, sorry, didn't mean to disturb you," he said, facing her. "Just wanted to see if you wanted to meet up, but you clearly already have plans."

"That's fine," she answered before I could, "we were just going to grab a drink at the Cube if you want to join us?" She smiled.

She. Smiled .

Fist clenching. I had to remember how to breathe. Fuck, I was really starting to lose control over my rage-haze.

"No, I don't want to crash your date." Julian replied with a disappointed smile on his face. Like he cares.

"It's not... a date?" she said tentatively, looking at me with clear question marks in her eyes. I saw Julian staring at her intensely, which was bothering me to no end.

"It sure is," I said through my teeth, trying to contain myself once again. In the course of the last twelve hours, my perfectly constructed control over the darkness had started to crumble without mercy.

Julian apologized quickly and bolted when Emma and I walked back inside her room.

“You’re taking me out on a date? At the Cube?” she laughed. Crap, hadn’t thought about that, our first real date should not be at the Cube.

"It could be dinner in a dumpster, it would still be amazing. It's you that makes it extraordinary, not the location." No idea how my brain came up with that so quickly, but thank the gods for my natural smoothness kicking in.

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, James, whatever. I'm ready to go. Are you almost finished?"

I frowned in confusion. "I didn't change?"

"No, I meant finished marking your territory," she quipped.

I hid my smirk and lowered my voice to a deeper baritone, holding her gaze steady, as I leaned in. "Not by a long shot," I murmured into her ear, my lips softly touching its shell.

She shivered and blushed a deep crimson, which was the most adorable thing I had ever seen.

Arriving at the Cube, I set the stage for a semi-romantic vibe and bubbled up our cube so no one could eavesdrop on our conversation.

"To our first date," I clinked her glass after translating our drinks and some tapas.

After toasting and taking a sip, she called me out immediately on my bullshit.

"I thought you couldn't date me as long as Martin—sorry, Julian—was here? Thought you had too much to do?"

Oh the irony.

"Turns out he's a lot less time-consuming than I expected," I replied dryly.

She wrinkled her nose, a tic she had that I thought was cute, buying herself some time before responding.

"You seem..." she started off hesitantly, "disturbed by his presence."

That was a very diplomatic way of putting it.

I let out a deep sigh. "I don't know, Emma.

I just... I don't trust the guy. I don't trust the situation we find ourselves in.

I mean, he's the Elder. He's like magi royalty. The chances of him and I meeting in my first cycle were slim to none, and now he portals into Cyclos, claiming to want to fix the Great Exposure, to ‘keep the peace’ or whatever bullshit story he’s telling next. He arrives right after you’ve been discovered and then, it turns out you've known the guy half your life? You don't find that a little strange?"

She bit her lip. "I do actually... I tried to ask him about it this morning even, but he brushed it off as coincidental..."

I huffed. "And you believe him?"

She bit her lip again.

"I want to... I'm going to choose to believe him. I have no reason to doubt him. It's a little strange, and maybe he has an ulterior motive, but who's to say his motives are bad?"

"Well, I'm not going to join you in your very na?ve approach. I don't trust the guy, and I'll find out what he's up to," I said, biting off my words with annoyance.

"Na?ve?" Her lips thinned, and she straightened her back.

When Emma got angry, it was like watching a documentary on a predatory species—like a lion getting ready to chase after a gazelle and tear its head off. Her entire body language started to look ominous and threatening.

"I don't want to fight, Emma. I'm just worried."

"I don't see why you'd have any reason to be." She was getting under my skin, and she knew it.

I kept my clenched fist under the table, trying to hide the struggle of containing my anger yet again. "I just told you," I answered impatiently.

"Well, I'm not agreeing with you," she bit back.

"Fine," I stood up, ready to leave. "Ignore the signs all you want but know that I have no issue whatsoever killing him off if he so much as looks at you the wrong way!"

"You're leaving?" she gasped, her eyes widening in surprise with a hint of hurt, but mostly anger.

I frowned. "You want me to stay?"

She shrugged, sadness clear in her eyes, and my heart sank. I’m a selfish bastard.

"You're putting me on edge," I whispered, explaining my weird behavior.

Her smile grew. "I thought that was what I did best."

I returned her smile, caressing her cheek but not sitting back down.

"I'm drained, Emma. I'm turning in. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, but tonight was a bad idea."

Her face fell, and I felt like a bigger bastard than ever. But I had to get out of there and clear my head. Was there a reason for me to be paranoid about Julian, or was it just some case of ill-tempered jealousy?

Emma’s eyes narrowed. “Just so you know, next time you pretend to ask me out, just to get me away from anyone, I’m stabbing you where it will really hurt,” she threatened and I grinned at her cute attempt at being evil.

Leaning in, I kissed her briefly on the cheek and left in a hurry without turning around.