“It’s okay,” Helios lied. It was obviously not okay, but what he said next just shocked me. “If it’s him, we’ll just have to rescue him. Once we get him--them home,” he corrected himself. “Maybe we can reverse what the Alexandrians did to them.”
V and I were both dumbstruck at that statement. He was obviously confused.
“I don’t think you understand…” I sputtered. “That’s—that’s not possible.”
Maybe Helios didn’t know what it meant for someone to be made a eunuch in Alexandria? Could Illyrians have a different meaning for the word? Helios knelt to pick up some of the things my Air blast had thrown around the room.
“He’s been—emasculated,” I said.
“I know what itmeansto be made a eunuch,” Helios said, eerily echoing my thoughts before slamming a handful of papers and a tray with empty syringes onto the bedside table, fury evident in his tone. He paused for a moment and took a few deep breaths before continuing.
“Somas are healers as well as fighters. Doctors, even,” he emphasized, raising an eyebrow at me, referencing my earlier doubt. “If I can find the right Mageia, a Tesseris Mageia, and bond with them, maybe I can heal them.”
My hand started to stray to my hair as I remembered Kyris saying I bore the mark of a Tesseris Mageia. I forced my hand down.
“What,exactly, is a Tesseris Mageia?” V asked, and for once I was grateful for my brother’s curiosity. “What is the whole Bond thing? What does it do? How does it work?”
Helios’ gazed softened under my brother’s questions. He quirked a smile at V.
“Now you’re asking the right questions.”
Condescending dickhead, I thought.
“A Tesseris Mageia is a Mageia who has the capability of learning how to master all four elements, not just one,” he began. V started to interrupt, but Helios stopped him.
“I know, you’ve been taught it’s impossible, but believe me, it’s not. One of my best friends would have been a TesserisMageia. I’ve known Dual Mageia, someone who has learned to use two elements, even without being bonded.”
V and I exchanged looks. His story was just so fantastical.
“When a Mageia and a Soma are compatible their magic can bond together, releasing additional powers for both,” he explained.
He held his hand up, and I watched in fascination, if not a little horror, as the nails of his hand lengthened into razor sharp claws.
My brother’s reaction was very different.
“That’s amazing!” Vlakas said excitedly, the scientist in him overcoming the last of his fatigue as he scrambled forward on his knees to peer at Helios’ hand. “Can I take a closer look?”
Helios nodded, and something in my chest burned oddly as V took Helios’ hand in his, turning it over and examining his claws. His examination was cool and clinical, but the burning in my gut wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t jealousy, dammit. It. Was.Not. The stew must not be sitting well in my stomach.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said after a few minutes, unable to sit still any longer and pulling V’s hand away from him. “Nice parlor trick. What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
Helios looked at me, his gray eyes flashing, almost like there was a touch of lightning behind them. Surely, he didn’t know how my brother caressing his hand was infuriating me.
“Thatparlor trick,as you put it, is real magic and it can cut through any metal we know of,” he said. “Once I find and Bond with my Mageia, I’ll be even stronger. I’ll be able to take on additional forms, and I’ll be able to heal,withoutmedicine. My Mageia will develop the ability to access all four elements, as well as the ability to block the Elusian ability to Suppress Mageia powers.”
V and I exchanged looks. This was exactly what Kyris had told me. Which made sense if they were related. I pictured Kyris’face. Their eyes had been the same shape as Hel’s, though a different color. Could this be some kind of con? Something set up by the Legion to, I don’t know, trick us somehow? It seemed to stretch the bonds of probability that the one person in the world who was kind to me was also related to someone who saved our lives during the Machi.
“So, how do you know if your magic is compatible?” V asked, his face alight with curiosity.
Before he could answer, we all heard my brother’s stomach growl. Loudly.
Helios snorted, the tension breaking, and V smiled wryly.
“Sorry!” he said, embarrassed.
“Food first, then we can talk some more, if you’re up to it?” Helios rumbled.
“Um, is there a bathroom?” I asked. I needed to use facilities and figured that V did, too. If there was a shower, maybe the sound of the water would let us have a semi-private conversation. Though he didn’t mention it, I wasn’t forgetting that Mr. Super Hearing had heard us all the way from the other room.
