As I walked into the kitchen area, I saw V seated at a table, Betts standing behind him, her hands on the collar around his neck.
“Almost got it,” she said, just as I realized what she was doing.
“Stop!” I yelled, a blast of Air flying from my hands to knock her away from my brother. Hel was faster than I was, flashing behind Betts and catching her before she hit the refrigerator. The sound of metal clanging off the floor only just registering as the shiny medallion from V’s collar clanged on the floor.
“What the hell?” Betts yelled, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
“I—you were—” I stammered.
“Helping him? Getting that damn collar off him?” she demanded, fire flashing in her eyes as she pushed away from Hel and stalked toward me.
“I didn’t mean—I’ve seen that thing blow a man’s head off!” I yelled at her, my anger rising at how close she had brought my brother to death. “You could have killed him!”
“Like I don’t know what I’m doing,” she flicked her hand dismissively. “You Alexandrians aren’t the only ones with talents.”
I watched as Betts picked up the medallion and collar from the floor and tossed them on the table. My jaw dropped. The collar had been neatly separated into two halves.
“How did you—” I began, glancing from the collar back to her.
She smiled at me and held up both hands. A ball of Fire appeared in one hand, a whirl of Water in the other.
“I’m a Dual Mageia,” she cocked one eyebrow at me. “Want to learn some tricks?”
“I—You—” I spluttered.
V walked over to me.
“You’re gonna catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that,” he said, pushing up on my chin, my teeth clicking closed.
“Fuck you, asshole.” I tried for a glare but I’m pretty sure it fell flat, if his smirk was anything to go by.
“Sorry, you aren’t my type,” Betts said saucily. “Now come sit down so I can get that thing off you.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at her warily.
“Betts has removed hundreds of those things without anyone losing their head,” Hel said, his eyes dancing with amusement.
“Well, there was that one guy—” Betts began.
I must have looked as panicked as I felt, because Hel reached out and took my hand.
“She’s joking. Here, I’ll sit next to you, just so she has extra incentive not to blow anything up.”
I felt his hand in mine, his skin warm and soft. That same zap of power stung my palm, but like before, it felt good, too.
“I thought you wanted to give me incentive not to set it off?” Betts teased.
“That’s enough out of you, brat,” he said. “Get that thing off him.”
She began working on the collar. I couldn’t help pulling away from her touch slightly. It seemed so… dangerous… to let anyone mess with the collar. The image of the blood and brains of the slave we’d seen killed fresh in my mind.
“Seriously, Kat, I know what I’m doing,” she squeezed my shoulder slightly, smiling at me as I looked up at her, not quite reassured.
“Why does he have his collar on still?” I gestured toward the medallion around Hel’s neck.
“I keep mine on to reassure the Mageia I meet in the Machi,” he said.
“But they could detonate it remotely!” I exclaimed. “We saw it done!”
