He’s a fuckingprince, Dag. There’s no way they will let him Bond with a damaged Soma,I signed back in resignation.
You’re not damaged, Rhu. You have to fight this! I’ve never heard of a Mageia and Soma having a reaction as strong as you described! Imagine how powerful you might be together!
I looked at Dag and sighed.
Maybe itwasn’ta positive reaction, did you ever think of that?I signed resignedly.Maybe the response was so strong because weweren’tsupposed to be together. It shoved us apart, after all.
That’s bullshit, he signed angrily.And you know it.
Why should it be any different now than it has any of the other times I’ve matched? Tell me that, Dag. He’s obviously important. Powerful. Can you really see Polemos or any of the other Leaders allowing us to Bond?
I saw doubt begin to bleed into Dagan’s face.
Look, the whole thing was just alot. I’d rather be alone right now. Besides, you should be spending time getting to know Deliah,I signed, forcing myself to smile. Fake it ‘til you make it, right? I loved my friend, but I was sure he could smell my sincerity. I reallydidwant to be alone.
We argued for another ten minutes, but Dag eventually agreed to let me go back to my apartment. I think he capitulated in the end only because he had a dinner date arranged with Deliah.
Fuck.I was useless. Too damaged to Bond. Too much of a liability to anyone, I thought as I lay on the bed in my room, bouncing the rubber ball against the wall again. A fly landed on the spot I usually used as my target, so I changed my aim, my eyes landing on the Omada recruiting poster.
The picture of the stoic Soma staring out of the photo, rifle in hand made me pause. Maybe therewasa way I could be useful after all.
Chapter 17
Luke
I opened my eyes to see Elex and Helios arguing in whispers over my bed.
“…you can’tseriouslythink I’d let him Bond with someone who wasn’t capable of protecting him, do you?” Hel asked.
“That’s what I wanted to make sure of!” Elex almost yelled.
I wasn’t sure exactly what they were arguing about, but these two seemed to spend a lot of time hovering over me.
“W-what the hell happened?” I demanded, my voice dry and hoarse. I struggled to sit up and Elex stopped arguing with Hel long enough to help me sit the hospital bed up.
Hel handed me a cup of water from a pitcher on a nearby table.
“We were just talking about your new ‘friend,’ Rhuyin,” Elex responded. “And trying to figure out why the hell you two were in the Administrative wing when the bomb went off.”
“Where is he?” I asked, sitting up quickly and looking around. “Is he okay?”
I appeared to be in some kind of infirmary. I glanced down and registered that I was still wearing the clothes from Heraklion. Not much time could have passed, then.
“He was dismissed, back to his other duties,” Hel said. There was a strain to his voice that I couldn’t quite pin down.
“What happened at the Touchpoint, Luke?” Elex demanded, ignoring his Bonded.
I hesitated and glanced at Hel. He had proved himself a friend and protector, but I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with talking about this in front of him. He must have noticed my hesitation because he said, “I’m going to step out to the hall to check in with the rest of the group and let them know we found him.”
After he left an awkward silence fell.
“So, what happened?” Elex asked gently, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. I don’t think any other person in the world would think of my brother as gentle, but he had always been so with me.
“I’m sorry. I never should have left the others,” I said simply. Elex waited patiently, so I finally continued. “All the people, all the expectation, all the fuckinghopein their faces, Lex. There are so many unmatched Somas in Illyria. The way they were all watching us—watchingme—I just—I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’tanything.So I ran.”
I shook my head. My brother was aware of the panic attacks that had plagued me before the Legion, but he had never witnessed them. I had thought that becoming a slave had freed me of the crushing fear of disappointing my parents. I mean, after all, how much further was there to fall?
“I panicked. I panicked and I ran.”
