rlin stepped forward, the door hissing shut behind him. "You don’t seem like the kind of man who likes to be kept waiting."
Kael chuckled softly, finally lifting his gaze. "You’re right. I’m not."
He gestured to the opposite seat. "Sit."
rlin did. The chair was plush but heavy, like everything else in this room. Built for comfort, but ant to remind whoever sat in it of the weight beneath that comfort.
Kael poured the wine, crimson, aged, probably older than either of them deserved to drink.
"Do you drink, Mr. Everhart?"
rlin tilted his head. "Sotis."
Kael smiled faintly, sliding one of the glasses across. "Then tonight is a ’sotis.’"
They clinked glasses, a soft, deliberate chi.
For a mont, silence. The city’s hum filled the gaps between heartbeats.
Then Kael spoke, voice calm but edged. "You stopped the Seraph from detonating."
rlin swirled the wine, watching the dark liquid catch the light. "You seem very sure of that."
"I saw the data myself." Kael leaned back, glass resting loosely in his hand. "The weapon was overloading beyond recovery. Every safety asure failed. And then, stability. Instant. Like it listened."
He watched rlin closely, eyes sharp as steel. "Weapons don’t listen, Mr. Everhart. Not unless sothing made them."
rlin didn’t flinch. "Maybe it was luck."
Kael’s mouth curved into sothing between amusent and disbelief. "Luck doesn’t rewrite operating protocols."
rlin said nothing. He didn’t need to.
Kael took another slow sip before continuing. "Regina thinks it’s your mana signature. She says it resonated perfectly with the Seraph’s containnt core. Personally, I think that’s too simple. Resonance explains reaction. Not obedience."
"Then what do you think?" rlin asked, setting his glass down.
Kael’s eyes held his. "I think you’ve been hiding sothing."
rlin t his stare evenly. "Everyone hides sothing."
"True." Kael smirked faintly. "But most people aren’t capable of stopping a weapon designed to erase cities."
The silence that followed was thick, almost tangible.
rlin leaned back, gaze drifting toward the window. "If I were hiding sothing dangerous, Chairman, would you really have invited to dinner? Alone?"
Kael’s smile deepened, faint but genuine. "Of course. I prefer to see danger up close."
He set his glass down, the sound echoing lightly. "Tell sothing, Mr. Everhart. Why invest in Invoke?"
rlin raised an eyebrow. "You’re the one who accepted my money."
"And you’re the one who bought a stake worth hundreds of millions without ever attending a shareholder eting until now."
rlin’s golden eyes reflected the city lights. "I like what Invoke builds."
Kael’s voice lowered. "Or what it can destroy?"
rlin gave a small, humorless smile. "You don’t seem like the kind of man who cares much about the difference."
Kael laughed softly. "You’re right again."
He stood, walking toward the window, hands clasped behind his back. The city spread beneath them like a field of stars, bright, distant, untouchable.
"Do you know what Invoke really is, Mr. Everhart?"
rlin didn’t answer.
Kael glanced over his shoulder. "It’s not a weapons company. Not truly. Weapons are the body. But the soul?" He turned fully, gray eyes glinting. "The soul is evolution. Every war, every market collapse, every shift in human fear gives birth to new invention. We simply... profit from it first."
He approached the table again, his presence heavy but not oppressive, just commanding.
"You," Kael said, gesturing faintly with his glass, "don’t strike as a boy who stumbled into fortune. You walk like soone who’s seen death. Several tis."
rlin’s voice was low, quiet. "You’re observant."
"I’ve made a career out of it."
For a mont, the air between them stilled again. Kael studied him, really studied him, like a scientist examining a rare specin.
"You’re different," he said finally. "And I don’t an your age or your... composure. There’s sothing off about you. Like you were built sowhere else."
rlin’s pulse flickered once, but his face stayed calm. "Is that a problem?"
Kael shook his head. "No. It’s a curiosity."
He sat again, pouring another glass. "I like curious things. They tend to change the world."
rlin leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on the table. "You think I’ll change the world?"
Kael smiled thinly. "I think you already have."
The words landed heavier than they should have.
rlin’s gaze flicked to the glass, then back to him. "You don’t seem like a man who trusts easily. Why tell all this?"
"Because," Kael said simply, "trust is unnecessary between predators. We only need to understand each other."
rlin exhaled slowly, his smirk faint but genuine. "So which of us are you assuming is the prey?"
Kael raised his glass again, the crimson liquid gleaming like blood. "That’s what makes this dinner interesting."
They ate as the sun finally vanished, leaving the city drowning in its own lights. The food was elegant but simple, seared at, roasted vegetables, wine that carried stories older than either of them.
Between bites, the conversation ebbed and flowed, talk of markets, contracts, and foreign wars. But underneath it, sothing sharper lingered: a mutual awareness.
Every question Kael asked carried a second aning. Every answer rlin gave was asured, deliberate, a dance of truth and omission.
It was less a dinner and more a duel of masks.
By the end of the al, Kael finally leaned back, satisfied. "You’re composed for your age, Mr. Everhart. I’ve seen n twice as old break under less scrutiny."
rlin t his eyes, voice even. "Maybe you weren’t asking the right questions."
Kael’s laugh was quiet, genuine this ti. "Maybe not."
He stood, walking toward the door. "You’ll make enemies here, you know. So already think you don’t belong at this table."
"I don’t plan to belong," rlin said softly. "I plan to stay."
Kael paused at the threshold, looking back. "Good."
He smiled, faint and unreadable. "Let’s see how long the wolves let you."
The door closed behind him, and rlin was left alone with the fading hum of the city below.
He sat there for a while, staring into the half-empty glass.
’Predators,’ he thought. ’He’s not wrong.’
But he wasn’t prey either. Not anymore.
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