bookpub Chapter 499: A Quiet Talk
Chapter 499: A Quiet Talk
Chapter 499: A Quiet Talk
Elijah jumped slightly, fumbling as he swiped at his screen and switched to another display. His eyes met Emir's for a moment before glancing away.
"Uh... just watching Amon's interview."
Emir's eyebrow rose slightly.
His casual tone was far from convincing, it simply was an obvious lie, but, instead of growing annoyed, he grew curious.
"The boy hadn't lied to him like this before.
So, deciding to play along, he sat down next to Elijah and took away the terminal in his hand. "Mind if I join in?"
"..."
Elijah's mouth opened, ready to protest, but he closed it again and just nodded, knowing that arguing with Emir wouldn't get him anywhere.
They both turned their attention to the interview, skipping through questions that droned on with practiced answers from Amon, smooth as ever.
Emir's eyes dulled as boredom overtook him, none of the questions were interesting, cookie cutter at most, but then, a quite daring independent journalist from the sea of reporters made him pause.
"We've seen some pretty compelling evidence that one of the terrorists was once a student at the Academy! What's your opinion on that?"
The room on screen fell silent, and Amon's gaze shifted as if he had come back to life.
It seemed that he too didn't expect such a question.
But, his experience showed, as he answered with a calm that sent a shiver down the journalist's spine.
"Don't blame the forge for the blood spilled on the sword."
Emir's expression shifted slightly, and soon, a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Interesting choice of words..."
The weight behind Amon's statement was clear: the Academy, for all its flaws, could not be blamed for what its students became.
It was a deflection, yet there was truth wrapped within it.
"Yeah..."
Elijah exhaled, as he seemed to have forgotten to do that in the last few seconds.
But then, just as he was about to say something, a new notification lit up on top of the screen, and his face turned red.
{Sofia: I'm here.}
The name on the message caught Emir's attention immediately since he didn't expect those two to be so close already.
Though he didn't rely much on the 'novel' anymore, he believed that such things wouldn't dramatically change, at least not this much.
He was wrong...
And if one judged by the contents of the message, he was really wrong.
"She's here? You invited her?"
Elijah shifted uncomfortably under Emir's gaze.
"No... I... She heard rumors... wanted to come here... speak to you..."
Though his words scattered, Emir more or less got what he wanted to say.
Sofia had heard rumors of this little party he had planned and she had been bothering Elijah since then, wanting to come by, and have Elijah ask Emir for permission.
But as he presumably refused, likely multiple times, she took matters into her own hands and just came of her own volition.
Emir tapped Elijah's shoulder, telling him that it was fine, then looked at Nathan, assuming that this was what they were discussing earlier.
And apparently, he was right, as Nathan was looking at him, seemingly waiting for a signal. "I'll take care of it."
He waved him off and stood up, heading to the gate.
There was an obvious surprise on Elijah's face, not expecting Emir to have agreed one bit.
However, he eventually calmed as he watched his big brother move, understanding that his mind was not to be understood.
In moments, Emir reached the gate leading outside and stood on the pavement.
Before him was a black truck-sized limousine with tires that reached half his height.
There was no doubt about it, Sofia had arrived.
A chauffeur stepped out of the driver seat, and quickly walked over, reaching the backmost
door.
He slowly opened it, revealing a small set of stairs that reached the ground, and gestured for her to exit.
"We've arrived Miss."
A young girl, with looks so different from girls her age, stepped out.
man she acknowledged as superior, her so-called muse.
Sofia was allowing herself to be vulnerable.
Emir meanwhile, allowed a small smile to cross his lips, yet beneath, it didn't reach the eyes
behind those shades.
Unknowingly, Sofia had given him exactly what he wanted-a chance to mold her further, to
shape her into the powerful specialist he knew she could be.
Her becoming a tool in the process was simply a by-product.
"I think everyone feels lost sometimes... I once did, a lot."
He chuckled, surprising her with a rare glimpse into his own vulnerability.
"But I've found my purpose. I have my own path. You must find your own, and besides, I enjoy
what I do."
Her hands unclenched slightly, but she still looked down, hesitant.
"What if I don't know where to start?"
A glint sparked in Emir's eyes as he leaned forward, adopting an expression of patient
understanding.
"You start by recognizing where you went wrong. Arrogance has its uses, trust me, I know,
but left unchecked, it blinds you. You need to see past that if you're to become who you're meant to be."
Sofia's eyes darted up, not expecting Emir to have seen through her this clearly.
"..."
But Emir didn't stop there, pressing just enough to cement his influence without revealing the
true extent of his intentions:
"It won't be easy, and you'll face more failures, we all do. But if you're here now, admitting you feel lost, then you've already made progress. The path ahead is yours to walk. It might be already forged, but it can be sharpened, perfected. Don't forget that."
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"..."
They shared silence, a long one that lasted until she nodded.
Lightly and barely noticeable sure, but it was there.
A moment passed, and then Emir, maintaining the guise of a mentor, reached out and patted
her head gently.
It was an extremely unfamiliar gesture coming from him, but one that carried just enough
warmth to reinforce the trust she had in him.
Like a father encouraging a child, he set the stage.
"Good. When you find a method to improve your path, just make sure it's one worth learning...
you don't have to walk in your sister's shadow anymore."
His hand lingered for just a second before he pulled back.
Sofia didn't react to his hand or to his words, she simply kept her head down, staring into the
ground.
Then, slowly, she smiled, a smile so tiny that it rivaled Lyra's when she first met Emir.
It seemed that not a single thought of this weird dynamic had entered her mind.
His status as her professor was cemented and his age was wholly irrelevant.
Agaiin, he was her muse.
Emir's smile finally reached his eyes.
He was more than sure that the plant had taken root deep within her mind.
Now, it was only a matter of watching it grow until he needed to reap the benefits.