To my surprise, I quickly sank into a deep sleep, the silver eyes of a certain Soma seemingly burned into the back of my brain.
???
Hel and I set out hte next morning to search the city for more Mageia. We left V at the camp. He had tried to hide it, but I’d seen the dark circles under his eyes. He needed the rest.
We had been most of the day a few miles from the base, tracking signs of some Mageia Hel had caught a trace of. We mostly moved in companionable silence, so I was startled when Hel spoke, his voice raspy.
“So, you owe me, Kat,” he said, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
“Owe you what?” I asked suspiciously.
“Some truth,” he said, side eying me, a look of mischief on his face. “I believe our deal was that I would get the truth for any questions you lied about, andyoulied about everything.”
I sighed. I had hoped that he was going to forget about that part of the conversation, but apparently not.
“Fine,” I grumbled. A deal was a deal, and besides, he’d know if I was lying anyway. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start out with the easiest one. What’s V’s favorite weapon?”
I grinned. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as I thought.
“Thatisthe easiest question. His favorite weapon is his mind,” I responded. “V would rather think himself out of a situation than have to hurt anyone. He’s one of the smartest people I know.”
Hel nodded. “He seems to be a natural collaborator. He tends to bring people together. I’ve seen it already,” he said.
“He would have made a great King.”
“King?” Hel asked, freezing in place.
“Yeah. He wasn’t always Vlakas. His original name was Prince Lucien Alexus the First, son of King Cyrius Alexus and Queen Eurymenye Atropos,” I said. “If he hadn’t become Mageian, he could have been the heir to the throne instead of our half-brother, Maalik.”
Hel didn’t say anything for long moments, his silver eyes searching my face.
“That means…” he began, his voice trailing off.
“Yep. Dear old Dad raped my mother and got her pregnant after he enslaved her,” I said bitterly.
“So you’re both princes?” He asked, moving forward again, picking his way through the dense foliage between two buildings.
“Fuck, no,” I said. “I was the brat of a slave. Maybe if I had developed Elusian powers I could have been an heir, but that never happened.”
“Wait, so if you are both sons of the King, then Davidus is your brother?”
It was my turn to freeze.
“You know Davidus?” I demanded, grabbing his arm and pulling him to a halt. “How? Where is he? Is he okay?”
The same shock shot through me that happened any time our skin touched, and I dropped his arm quickly. The panic in my face must have been evident because he quickly moved to reassure me.
“Last I heard, he was fine. He was the first Mageia I met that would give me a chance. He went with the first group back to Nymphaeum.”
“More woven threads,” I said, though I wasn’t sure exactly why. “You have to tell me the story.”
“It’s getting dark. I have a bolt hole near here that’s safe. Rather than risking moving at night why don’t we make camp? I can tell you the rest,” he said.
Hel led the way through a maze of streets and alleys. Once or twice he pointed out signs of movement through the streets: some disturbed foliage, overturned wooden pallets with varying degrees of weathering, and once even the wrapper from one of the packaged food containers distributed to Legionnaires.
When we finally got to the building, it was not what I had expected. I had thought it would be something similar to the underground sewers. Instead, he led me up the interior of a building to the topmost floors.
