“Wanna bet?” I asked, changing my fingernails to claws. Suppression didn’t affect Somas. Since I wasn’t Bonded, I was limited to forming claws on my hands, but superior speed and strength would have to be enough.
Before the Elusian could move I had gutted one soldier on the right, hamstrung the second and grabbed the rifle from him. I swung it like a club, dropping the third like he had been poleaxed.
That brought me up to the Elusian. I grinned wolfishly, seeing his eyes go wide as he took in the claws reaching for his throat. Then my body jerked to a halt as I slammed into the familiar feel of a wall of Air. At first, I wondered what in all the hells Tib thought he was doing. Then I saw a woman move up behind the Elusian wearing white body armor with silver piping gesturing with her hands. Dammit! A captive Air Mageia.
“Don’t do this!” I pleaded, straining against her hold. “You don’t have to live this way!”
The Mageia’s eyes didn’t even flicker as she immobilized me with Air.
I had to hope that Tib would take the opening I’d given him to escape. The longer I could delay them, the further away he’d be by the time they started looking for him.
The Elusian circled me, his eyes taking in my appearance.
“Don’t even bother, Illyrian,” he oozed. “Rika is too well trained to be swayed by—beast—such as yourself,” he spat. He paused, stroking her face almost lovingly. “Aren’t you, my dear?”
“Yes, Master Aurelius,” she said. Her voice was flat, almost without inflection, and it made my blood run cold.
This. This was what we were fighting against. The Mageia I knew were so full of life. The elements that ran through their blood creating spark and fire. This woman--girl, really--was dead inside.
“Bastard,” I hissed.
The Elusian turned back to me, his eyes narrowing.
“Hmmmm… I could kill you, Illyrian,” he responded, his eyes sliding over my scarred face. “But it looks like that might actually be a mercy. I think I have something far more… interesting in mind for a beast such as yourself.”
Aurelius gestured to Rika.
The shield of Air tightened around my neck, and I continued to fight her hold. The world began to go dark around me as my air was cut off.
“Don’t kill him, my dear,” I heard the Elusian order Rika. “I have a use for him.”
Chapter 6
Kat
Every bone in my body was weary, my muscles protesting as I made my way from the practice yard.
“Well, that was fun,” a voice said sarcastically when I entered the hall.
I looked up to see Maia leaning against the wall leading to the courtyard.
Maia was around my age and had become the de facto leader of the female Fire Mageia. She and I had developed an uneasy alliance over the years following an incident with chocolate covered espresso beans and an escaped pet bunny. Don’t ask. You really don’t want to know.
“Sorry about that,” I said, dropping to a bench near her and wrapped a towel around my neck. It was only marginally cooler in the shaded hallway than it had been in the courtyard. “Maalik knows how to push all my buttons.”
She grunted.
“Families are like that,” she said.
I looked at her in shock. I had never acknowledged a relationship with Maalik anywhere anyone could hear. Even in the courtyard earlier, the only one close enough to have heard our conversation had been V.
“Oh, don’t look like I’m the Oracle of Delphi or something!” she teased before plopping down next to me, her black braids flipping over her shoulders. “Anyone who saw you, V and Maalik in the same room for five minutes and couldn’t tell you were related would have to be blind.”
The last time someone had threatened V and I with the knowledge we were brothers had ended messily and permanently.
I didn’t want to discuss my family further, so I changed the subject.
“I am sorry, though. I should have kept better control of my temper,” I said.
