Luke looked at me and grinned, using his fingers to create the sign for Bonded: thumb and fingers making a circle and linking together. I swear, sometimes I felt like he was reading my mind.
“How did you know that sign?” I asked as Luke responded with a sign I was sure I hadn’t taught him.
“I had asked Dagan to teach me some signs right after the Touchpoint,” he responded shyly. “But I stopped trusting him when he told me Hel’s name was this.”
He made the alphabet symbol for the letter d and tapped his nose. I snorted and coughed, spilling coffee on the table.
“Um, you know that’s the sign for ‘dick’, right?” I asked, mopping up the mess.
“I do now,” he responded with a grin. “Apparently it’s also a fairly universal insult in your military. Hel knew exactly what it meant when I said hello to him a few days ago.”
“You should have seen what Dagan calledyou!” Tik hooted.
To no one’s surprise, the sign he had taught them was my name was more than a little obscene. What a wonderful thing it is to have friends…
Luke flipped the towel at Tik, who was cackling on the couch, but the younger Mageia just laughed and ducked. He and Naya were officially dating and it looked like they were on their way to becoming a Bonded pair.
The other Mageia from Heraklion had insisted on learning sign language as well, which surprised me. Even Elex, who still seemed ready to jump down my throat at the slightest misstep, spent time learning to sign so he could communicate. Helios was doing hisbest to play peacemaker between us, but I could tell Elex’s overprotectiveness was getting on Luke’s last nerve.
As if thinking about him had summoned him, Luke’s brother entered the common area and stalked toward us. Luke must have seen me tense because he looked over his shoulder at his older brother and sighed, turning his back and studiously ignoring him.
“I need to talk to you,” Elex said, eyes only on his brother.
“So, talk,” Luke said, his face implacable as he sat across from me, Elex looming behind him. Luke had not yet forgiven his brother for his words the day he had met with the other Somas. Elex glanced at me, and I swear I felt the air between us heat. Since he was a Tesseris Mage, it was actually a possibility.
“Can we talk privately—”
“No.” Luke cut him off. “Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of my Bonded.”
I felt Luke’s icy resolve through our bond. Elex’s words had hurt him deeply. More deeply than I could have known they would. If I’d been aware of the potential damage, I never would have told him what had been said. I reached out and took his hand and he automatically linked our fingers. Tik seemed to shrink into himself and away from all of us at Elex’s apparent anger. His reaction to Elex was new. The poor kid was always terrified of authority figures, but he worshiped the ground Elex walked on.
If looks could have killed, the one Elex gave me at Tik’s response would have put me six feet under. Fortunately, though, Elex seemed to catch on to how he was scaring Tik, and he toned his anger down.
“Fine,” he bit out. “We’ve been summoned to the War Leader’s office.”
***
As we took the elevator to the upper floors, I saw Elex’s mouth move, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying. I was holding Luke’s hand, so I felt him respond, “Stop. You’re being an ass. If you’re going to talk, turn and face both of us so Rhu can read your lips.”
Elex turned stiffly to face both of us, annoyance and embarrassment etching his face. Luke squeezed my hand andsmirked at me. I didn’t doubt he would forgive his brother…eventually. But he was definitely going to make him pay for being an ass.
“Isaid, I’m sorry we didn’t have time to talk before this. I kept trying to find the right time, but things kept happening so quickly, it just never seemed to be the right time to tell you about—”
The doors of the elevator opened onto thickly carpeted halls. A man with curly white hair leaned against the desk speaking to an assistant seated at a computer. When he turned to look at us I realized he could be Elex’s twin. I felt the shock that rang through Luke like a bell.
“Erix?”
The man turned and looked at us and I realized he was definitely related to Luke as well, and was stunned at the similarity between the three of them. Okay, so maybe he reallywasElex’s twin, but not quite identical. The hair was obviously different colors – mirror image white to black, but there was more. This brother stood in a tailored suit, his body heavier than Elex’s. Still fit, but nowhere near as lean. Then my eyes brushed over the medals on his insignia and everything fell into place.Fuck my life.
Luke didn’t even hesitate. He rushed forward, throwing his arms around the shorter man. Two guards that stood behind him tensed, but at a gesture from Erix they stepped back.
I couldn’t read everything they were saying, but the joy on Luke’s face was unmistakable.
“…how? I thought you’d died..”
“…long story, but we’ll have to …”
With such a resemblance to them both, he was obviously their brother. Luke finally released him and stepped back, turning quickly to grab my hand as he introduced me.
