I flung open the door to the room, accidentally slamming it against the wall with a crash. All eyes in the room turned towards me, two of the figures taking on defensive positions, but only one mattered to me.
My brother stood near the window dressed in a black t-shirt with a ragged hole torn in the front. My eyes searched his face for recognition.
“Erix.” He said, his eyes wide with shock. I saw a glimpse of shocked joy that quickly shuttered.
“Elex,” I breathed, staring into the face that was like a mirror image of my own.
The years of conflicted emotions melted away as I took a cautious step forward, longing to wrap my arms around my brother. Instead of reaching for me, though, he drew back. A look of confusion on his face.
“Elex, it’s me. It’s Erix,” I said, pitching my voice low. His eyes were a little wild and he looked like a wild animal about to bolt.
“That’s… that’s not possible. I saw you drown,” he said shaking his head in confusion.
“I didn’t drown,adelfos,” I whispered. “I escaped.”
A tall man with wavy blond hair and piercing silver eyes stepped between my brother and me and I turned on him with a snarl. His face was heavily scarred but the sheer power of his presence was enough to make me want to take a step back. Erix the ex-slave might have given way, but Polemos the War Leader didn’t back down to anyone.
“I would suggest you stay back until we figure this out,” the man said as I glared at him. Suddenly my guards were pushing their way between us.
“You don’t speak to the War Leader in that tone,spasmenos,” one of my guards said.
Broken one. Shit.
“You must be Helios,” I said, tearing my gaze away from my twin. “How did…”
My mind was a whirl, timelines and bits of information all falling into place.
“You met at the Machi, didn’t you?” I asked.
Elex nodded, still staring at me in mute fascination. I could almost read the emotions flickering over his face. Confusion was predominant. Hope and fear, joy and… shame?
“This is fucking impossible,” he said. “I saw you die.”
“Rumors of my death were slightly exaggerated?” I said, a small smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “I escaped downriver and made my way to Illyria. Just like we’d planned.”
He moved toward me, but my Soma guards rushed to intervene.
“Giva, Den,back off,” I growled at my guards. The distraction cost me as I caught movement out of the corner of my eye as Elex rushed from the room.
“Elex!” I called, but he ignored me.
“I’ll talk to him,” Helios said before taking off after my brother.
An awkward silence fell in the room, broken by the sound of a chair being pushed back from the table as the man in it stood.
“I thought the name of the War Leader was Polemos,” the man said.
He was older, maybe in his early- to mid-thirties, the sharpness in his gaze defying the silver glints in his close-cropped dark hair. His face and body held scars, and with his bearing, he had to be a soldier. There was something… magnetic about the man. His eyes were a deep, deep green, and didn’t seem to miss even the slightest nuance of movement in the room.
“Polemos is the name I took when I escaped from Alexandria,” I said, turning toward the man. “It seemed…prudent to not use my real name at the time.”
He nodded.
“Understandable, given your parentage.”
“What do you know about my parentage, Alexandrian?” I demanded. “And who the hell are you?”
“Allard Andinos, former Lochagos of the Alexandria Legion,” he said, bowing with his right fist over his heart. “Former Weapons Master to King Cyrius Alexus. Your father.”
