“Oh, you’re Bonded all right,” Betts said, smirking at me as she sat at the table, a plate of fruit and cheese in front of her. “I can smell it from here.”
I looked from Betts to Hel, to Rhuyin in confusion, but felt Rhu’s fingers tighten around mine. We’d made our way back to our floor in the Pavilion and quickly tried to track down Elex and Helios. Betts had been in the common area with Hel. Elex had joined us shortly afterward, but he was pacing behind us in agitation at the news.
“But—how?” I asked. “We didn’t go through the ritual!”
Hel shrugged and Elex sat down next to him.
“Elex and I didn’t have a ceremony either, so I don’t have an answer for you. Your family seems to be a special case. You all should come with warning labels,” he said, flicking a grape at his Bonded.
Elex snatched the fruit from the air, popped it in his mouth with a smirk, then lurched back to his feet.
“You. With me.Now.” he demanded, pointing at Rhuyin.
“Lex—” I began warningly.
“I won’t kill him,” my brother bit out. “…yet.”
Rhu looked at me.
“He won’t hurt you. Heisprobably going to threaten you, though,” I sighed.
I can handle him,he signed with confidence.
He waited a moment to make sure I had understood him. He had been teaching me sign language and said I had taken to it extraordinarily fast. I’d blushed when he said it, not telling him that I had could speak four languages already. Or that I had spent almost every free moment glued to sign language videos on the laptop Illyria had provided.
He gave me a slight grin and shrugged, then followed Elex into the hall. Betts and I watched as Hel’s gaze followed my brother into the hall.
“Ew! Gross!” Betts exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her brother. “You’re watching his ass!”
“He’s my Bonded,” Hel answered with equanimity as he grabbed the pillow out of the air and settled it behind his head. “I’msupposedto watch his ass.”
“Back. You’re supposed to watch hisback. Besides, I don’t want to see that,” she muttered. “Keep that shit private.”
“Just like you were oh-so-subtly ogling the breasts on that one Mageia?”
“That’s different!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Everyonelikes breasts.”
I chuckled as the two bickered. It was nice to see this side of Helios from time to time. Hel had almost been Bonded with Ri, Betts older brother, but an attack had killed him before they could complete their Bond. It had left him scarred in more than just physical ways.
“So where’ve you been, Betts? Haven’t seen much of you since you dropped everyone off,” Hel said, stabbing his straw into a cup empty of anything but ice.
“I’ve been reviewing logistics for the new Bonded training program,” she said, settling back against the cushions, her dark braids falling around her face. “Daros Theophos is the head of the program and he’s an ass. He and that toady of his, Kopanos, have been managing Tetradymo training, and it’s not enough. We keep losing young Bonded pairs to stupid mistakes.”
I stiffened at the mention of Kopanos.
“Karl Kopanos?” I asked. Betts nodded.
“Guy makes my skin crawl,” she admitted. “But he has Theophos’ ear. Their families have been friends forever, or something. Anyway, when Theophos was appointed Internal Security Leader two years ago he appointed Kopanos to manage the Tetradymo training.”
“What is Tetradymo training?” I asked.
“Well, when a mommy Mageia and a Daddy Soma love each other very much…” Betts began condescendingly, but then squeaked as Hel tossed a piece of ice from his cup to land squarely down the neck of her scandalously low-cut blouse.
She jumped to her feet and began scrabbling around inside her blouse for the offending piece of ice. Finally, she resorted to untucking her shirt and shaking everything around until the small frozen intruder skittered off under one of the couches.
“Tetradymo training is where we send all newly Bonded pairs to learn how to use their new elemental affinities and how to work as a team,” Hel answered, ignoring his sister’s antics. “Most of the Mageia we’ve had join us over the last several years have a lot of battle experience from having been in the Legion, but they aren’t used to trusting anyone to protect them. Just because you’ve magically Bonded with someone doesn’t mean you one-hundred percent trust them, and if you don’t trust your partner it can make for a dangerous combat situation. Trust is earned.”
“You mean, like you and ‘Lex?” I asked. He shrugged.
