“Now you sound like our tutor,” I said, trying to tease some lightness back into him.
“That’s because Ilistento him!” Erix yelled. “I’m trying to figure out how we can make this country something other than a shithole where half the people are treated like animals.”
I shushed him with a glance toward Mitera’s room.
“Like she doesn’t know it!” he said, waving me away. “The odds are against us, Elex. We will probably never be more than slaves. If it weren’t for Mitera…” he said, his voice trailing off.
“What?” I demanded.
“I’d pack everything up tonight and try to escape,” he said. “Mitera would never make it, though. Especially pregnant. And the King would move heavan and hell to bring back a pregnant bedslave.”
I swallowed hard. Escape. What slave didn’t think about it, in the darkness of night when there is no one around to stop them? But in the light of day you knew there was no escape. We literally bore the king’s mark on our skin.
“What if you’re wrong, though, Erix?” I asked. “What if we do become Elusian? Think of the life we could give her, the life we could have! Maybe—maybe someday he would love us like Mitera does?”
He sat up on the bed looking at me with an aching disappointment in his eyes.
“It will never happen, Elex,” he said, his tone flat. “He will never look at us as anything other than tools. Human, Mageian or Elusian. He will use us to further his ends, no matter what.”
Erix slammed his hand against the wall and stormed out of the apartment.
My brother had these strange moods sometimes, ones even I didn’t know what to do with. He would storm off, and eventually calm down. I just needed to give him space.
I stayed up for hours, hoping to hear Erix sneak back into the house, but sleep finally claimed me.
***
I woke naturally some time before the sun rose. I had several chores to complete before school started and it was always better to get them done in the cool of the morning.
Dressed and reasonably clean, I knocked on Mitera’s door.
“Mitera? Do you need anything before I go to work?” I asked.
Silence met my call.
“Mitera?” I called again.
I opened her door slowly, not wanting to wake her if she was still sleeping.
It was dark enough in the room that it took my eyesight a moment to adjust.
She lay on the bed, still propped up by the pillows, eyes closed. The empty wine bottle and the remnants of the food the King had sent still lay on the bedside table.
The room had a strange, coppery scent I couldn’t place, causing a frisson of unease to flow through my skin. I looked around the room but saw nothing out of place. It was then I realized that therewassomething missing, after all: the sound of breathing.
“Mitera?” I cried, rushing forward, flipping the overhead light on.
The harsh light outlined her thin body under the coverlet, her braided hair still piled on top of her head, her skin a deathly white. As I grew closer, the coppery scent grew stronger, and I finally recognized the smell. Blood.
“Mitera!” I screamed, pushing back the covers. A red so dark it was almost black spread across the blankets from between her legs. I touched her face, but it was cold. I tried to chafe her fingers, but they were stiff and unyielding. I wrapped my arms around her cold, stiff body.
“No… no Mitera… Please…” I cried, tears pouring down my face. “You can’t leave us…”
I don’t know how long I sat there, but eventually I heard the door to the apartment open, and Erix walked in.
I looked at him, my eyes red from weeping.
“Erix…” I said brokenly. My twin took in the scene in a moment, and the realization of his world crashing down flashed across his face. He moved to the other side of Mitera. My own sobbing had quieted, but Erix made no sound. He just smoothed her hair back from her beautiful face.
