“I traveled with him for several years. He made many circuits on his trade routes, and I traveled with them, learning his business, but eventually he began planning a trip that would take him much farther away than I had any desire to go, so I made my way to Illyria.”
He grinned at us.
“Somas at that point were even more desperate. I was an unmatched Mageia in a country of thousands of unbonded Somas. You’ve all experienced it now, but you should have seen it back then. There were no Touchpoints, no organization, no plans. I could have asked for the moon and they or their families would have tried to give it to me, just for a chance at becoming Bonded.
“Then I came into contact with alessscrupulous element of the country that was kidnapping Mageia and forcing them to Bond with Somas.”
“Forcing? I thought it was Mageia choice?” Luke asked, curiously.
“It’s supposed to be,” Hel said through gritted teeth. “Desperation makes people do horrible things. I remember hearing about this. It was out of Cyprus, wasn’t it?”
Erix nodded, and Hel whistled low.
“It was you that brought that down?”
Another short nod from Erix and Hel leaned back in his chair, watching my brother with new respect.
“That brought me to the attention of the Illyrian military, then the President, which eventually brought me here.”
I had watched Erix closely throughout his story. With this many Somas in the room, I figured he couldn’t be lying about any of it, but I also knew my twin. If there was something he didn’t want to share, he’d find a way to avoid it.
Rhuyin stood at attention, his salute unfailing.
“At ease, Dekaneas,” Erix said. “Please take a seat, everyone.”
“We’ve been here for weeks. Why summon us now?” I demanded when everyone finally sat down.
“I can’t just want to catch up and find out what’s happened in the last ten years?” he asked, but I waited. I knew there was more coming. “Fine. I do. But we also need to talk next steps for the Mageia you brought from Heraklion, as well as next steps in this war.”
Of course. This wasn’t just a family reunion. We were here as weapons, after all.
“Why should we trust you?” I demanded. “You’re just going to use us.”
I knew I sounded more bitter than I intended from the way Hel reached under the table to take my hand.
“Hey!” Rhu and Luke both exclaimed, and one of the Soma guards tensed at her station by the door. Hel squeezed my hand gently, but I kept my gaze locked on my twin.
Erix halted their exclamation with a single raised finger.
“It’s a fair question,” Erix said, glancing around the room. “None of this comes cheap, after all. And you don’t really have any reason to trust me. You barely know me.”
He stood and walked over to the windows that looked out over the city. He paused with his back to us before speaking.
“Aíma, idróta kai dákrya.”
“Blood, sweat, and tears,” he translated. “I won’t lie to you. We desperately need your help.Ineed your help. Iwilluse you. I will send you into dangerous situations. I will risk your lives, maybe even your sanity. I can’t promise that you and your friends will all survive. In fact, I can almost guarantee some of you won’t.”
He turned around and faced us then, leaning back, his hands braced against the windowsill as he looked at each of us. He was silhouetted from behind, his hair a nimbus of white around his head, his eyes full of power. In that moment, I saw echoes of the boy I’d known, but had an even better view of the man he’d become. There was pain in his eyes, but also a fiery passion.
“What Icanpromise you is that I will make the Alexandrians pay ten times over for every drop of blood, sweat and tears you shed. Just like I’ve been making them pay for every Illyrian they have murdered, every person they have raped, every child they have kidnapped. They will pay, and pay, and pay and they will keep on paying until the bill is paid in full, or until the Elusians are no longer in power. I have made it part of my oath as War Leader.”
“Aíma, idrótas kai dákrya. Eínai dikó mas í dikó tous.Blood, sweat and tears. It’s ours, or theirs.”
I looked at my brother, this man about whom I now knew so little, and began to feel, at least a little, some of our old kinship rekindle.
“I pick theirs.”
Chapter 27
