“Not until we have a little talk,” I said.
V helped her sit up, then sat back down next to me.
“You’re from Greece?” I asked.
She stayed silent for several moments, her brown eyes studying V and I and our surroundings before finally nodding.
“I’m Kat, Air Mageia. This is Vlakas,” I said.
“Earth Mageia,” V dipped his head in acknowledgement.
“Deliah,” she bit out, eying me suspiciously. “And you already know I’m Fire.”
“You thirsty?” I ignored her sarcastic tone.
After a moment’s hesitation she nodded.
I moved forward and took my canteen and offered her some.
She looked at it suspiciously.
“If we wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already. It’s safe.” I tipped the bottle up and took a drink, then held it to her lips.
She looked at me for a moment more, her eyes searching mine before thirst won over her suspicion. She drank deeply for a few moments, then moved away from the bottle.
“Why aren’t I dead?” she asked finally, looking from me to V.
I glanced at V. He was better at this stuff than I was.
“We don’t want to kill our fellow Mageia,” V shrugged.
She looked at us incredulously.
“It’s the MachiThanatos,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain. “It’s literally a battle to the death.”
“Yeah, well,” I began. “We tend not to follow the rules.”
“We don’t have to slaughter each other for our captors’ amusement,” V added. “There are other options.”
She furrowed her brow at him.
“You are… Alexandrian,” she jutted her chin at the insignia on our shirts.
We nodded, even though it wasn’t a question.
“Alexandrians want to take over the world, everyone knows that,” she said, her face screwed up like she smelled something foul. “You’ve been encroaching on the borders of Greece for years, slowly absorbing our land and people into your own. Your greed knows no bounds.”
“Not all Alexandrians feel that way,” V insisted. “Many Alexandrians just want to live their lives without being forced into slavery.”
She glanced at him dismissively.
“You’re just a Mageia. How would you know what ‘most’ Alexandrians want?”
V chuckled.
“Well, before I joined the Legion, my name was Prince Lucien Alexus the First. So I was kind of in a position to hear some things.”
Her eyes widened incredulously. “Anyone could claim that.”
