Chapter 28

Luke

I shoved a pair of tac pants and shirts into the backpack, my mind a million miles away.

"Alexandria doesn't normally get snow this time of year. You know something about the weather I don't?" Rhuyin asked from his seat at the table. We were in my small apartment area preparing for the upcoming mission. He had taken to staying with me most nights. Most nights it wasn't about sex, but more about developing the connection between us.

What do you mean?I practiced signing, enjoying the view as he stood, stretching his arms wide. His shirt hugged his biceps and chest, showing off the ripple of muscles across his chest.

"Well, you've just shoved four pairs of thermals in there and about six pairs of socks," he said, a smirk on his face.

I looked down at the bag and cursed. He was right. I tore the thermals out of the backpack and shoved them back in the dresser drawer. All the clothes had been provided by the Illyria government.

"The socks stay," I insisted stubbornly. "There's nothing worse than having cold or wet feet."

Rhu came over and wrapped his arms around me, the heat of his body penetrating even through our clothes. I couldn't help but sigh and relax back into his embrace. I could feel the power thrumming between us.

"You can have as many socks as you want, General. It's going to be okay," he said as he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of my head.

I pulled away from him and spun around.

"You don't know that, Rhu. We could all be killed, or recaptured."

The thought of once more being at the mercy of the Elusians and my father made my vision go red, while a deep pit opened in my stomach. Worse, the thought of Rhu or my brother or Hel being hurt or captured drove me crazy. If they were captured Alexandria couldn't allow any of them to live.

Rhu's steady gaze held my own, his dark green eyes glittering in the low light.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

I swallowed hard. I did trust him. I was also well aware of the power that the Elusians could summon. Elex and I were two Tesseris Mageia up against the entire Alexandrian army, which included many of our fellow Mageians.

"I do," I whispered.

His hands trailed up my body until they were cupping my face. One of the things I loved about this man was how precious he made me feel. For the first time in my life I had someone who cared about me. Not what I could do, not what they could get from me. He loved me, and I loved him for it. With all the uncertainty ahead of us I was terrified of what might happen if I never got to tell him. So I forced the words from between my lips.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," I whispered.

His eyes went wide as he read my lips, then his lips were brushing my own. My heart thudded in my chest as the kiss deepened. My hands slid down his body, tracing the muscles I had been ogling earlier. This close, I could feel the length of his arousal pressed to my body, the heat of him incredible.

I still couldn't believe this beautiful, brilliant man was mine. I had never dreamt of the possibility of having something like this. Any relationship was a liability; something for the Elusians to exploit. They had used me against Elex for years. I couldn't let them do the same with Rhu, but I wasn't sure how to prevent it.

"I would end the world if they hurt you," I whispered.

"I think I love you, too, General," he said, stroking my face.

I swallowed hard and raised my eyes back to his.

"Rhu, you have to promise me something," I whispered.

"Anything," he said instantly, his eyes focused on my lips. I took a shuddering breath. What had I done to deserve this man?

I dropped my gaze and stepped back; my chest felt like bands of iron were compressing my lungs. I instantly missed the heat of his body.

"If they capture us—" I began.

"They won't," he insisted.

"If they capture us," I continued, ignoring the interruption. "You have to promise me…I can't go back, Rhu. I can't be a slave again. I can't let them use me against any of you, ever again."

His eyes were turning a molten emerald, liquid like mercury, but the dark green dotted with golden flecks.

"I can't let them use me against Elex or Erix. Or you. Promise me they won't take me alive," I whispered.

He froze, his body as still as a statue.

"Luke…" he whispered, shaking his head.

"Promise me, Rhu, or I swear to the goddess I will lock you so far underground it will take them a week to dig you out and we will be long gone by then."

He stared at me intently, his grip on me so tight I might have bruises tomorrow.

"You don't need to threaten me, my General. We just won't let it come to that," he said. "But if it does, I promise you, I will do us both before I let us fall into Alexandrian hands."

I nodded once sharply and turned back to the backpack, the emotions rumbling through my chest threatening to overwhelm me. A knock sounded at the door. I turned to answer it, grateful for the interruption, but Rhu caught me, pulling me back into a bruising kiss.

"I promise," he whispered. He signed something, but I didn't have the knowledge yet to know what he had said.

"Thank you," I whispered then turned to answer the door.

I don't know what I had expected, but it wasn't to see a determined-looking Tik standing hand in hand with an anxious looking Naya Lokimedes. Behind them stood Elex, Hel and Allard with varying expressions of confusion on their faces.

"Tik, Naya, guys," I acknowledged with a sharp nod.

"C-can we come in?" Tik asked. He was fumbling to sign with one hand, his other tight in Naya's grip. I felt a warm affection for him as he worked to include Rhu. I stepped back and held the door open for them.

My eyes sought out Elex's and he shrugged and shook his head slightly, so he didn't know what this was about, either.

The room was really too small to hold this many people, but we managed. The kids came in and took seats on the small sofa, Naya holding Tik's hand in a grip that had her knuckles turning white.

Rhu moved over and sat down across from them so he could read their lips more easily, and I took a seat next to him. Hel and Elex pulled up chairs from the kitchen while Allard stood behind us, hands crossed over his chest.

"What's going on?" Hel asked the pair, not unkindly.

I saw Tik look from Hel back to Naya and then to me.

"First, thank you guys for meeting with us like this. I know you weren't expecting this. We-we have some news we needed to share," Tik said, a small smile on his face. "Naya and I Bonded last night."

I gazed at the two kids in confusion, wondering why Naya was so scared, because the poor girl looked terrified. Were they afraid we'd be angry? They may be a little young, but from what I understood, most Somas Bonded before they were eighteen.

"That's great!" my Bonded responded and congratulations were heard from everyone.

"I'm a Dual Mageia now," Tik added shyly. "Earth and Fire."

"That sounds perfect for you," I said with a smile. "Since you want to do metal work."

Tik nodded.

"But…Naya has something she needs to tell you all," Tik said glancing around at all of us. "Before we Bonded last night, she shared something with me."

I saw him squeeze her hand reassuringly.

"I-I'm so sorry," she whispered, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Sorry about what, Naya?" Hel asked gently.

"T-the bomb," she said, her voice trailing off. "I set the bomb."

You could have heard a pin drop.

"I never meant for anyone to get hurt," she continued hurriedly. "He told me there wouldn't be anyone in the Administration wing."

"Who told you that, Naya?" Luke asked.

"I—I don't know. I never knew his real name. He said it was better that way. I met him in a chat room," she said, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"I think you need to start from the beginning," I said. I was generally a pretty good judge of character and Naya didn't strike me as a terrorist.

She took a deep breath and Tik squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"My Mom died when I was only four or five. I don't really remember her. Dad tried to keep the story from me, but kids talk. She was a Soma and was Bonded with her best friend, Mia, a Mageia who was killed in the war. Mom couldn't take the humiliation, the accusations, of surviving her Bonded's death. She killed herself. Dad raised me on his own. I barely remember her, just some vague images and feelings. Dad did the best he could. You—you never met my dad, I don't think," she said, looking at Hel and Rhuyin who shook their heads.

"He was the best Dad anyone could ever have. We were so close. We did everything together, but he never found his Bonded. When the new Mageia started coming to Illyria, I was so hopeful that he would find a match.

"T-then, the new rules came out from the War Leader. There was an age limit, a ten-year range. By this time, Dad was in his forties. When they announced the change, it was like I saw the light go out of his eyes. He had been devastated when we lost Mom, but he had held on for my sake. He said he felt like he was never going to find a match.

"Two days after I turned sixteen…he jumped from the Efkairia bridge."

Her voice sounded hoarse now, tears streaming freely down her young face. It killed me that she had suffered so much in her young life.

"I was angry. Angry at him, angry at the world, angry at the War Leader. My therapist suggested that I connect with other war orphans as a way to help me work through the anger. I started visiting chat rooms online. That's where I met him. He went by the name Kyrmenos.

"At first, it was just chatting. He said he his daughter was a Soma who took her own life. We just seemed to really connect. It wasn't pervy, or anything. He just listened to me.

"Finally, we decided to meet up. We went to the Old Guard Park. I figured the area was always busy, and I really didn't think he was any kind of threat. I got the impression he was in the military, but he never told me what he did.

"We talked for hours. He was as angry as I was over the War Leader's restrictions. He said we needed to send a message; one the leaders couldn't ignore.

"W-we came up with the idea of bombing the Administration building. He said that the offices were always empty whenever there was a Touchpoint, that it would get our message across that everyone should have the chance to attend a Touchpoint, not just the War Leader's special few."

I thought back to the Touchpoint and the thousand Somas who had participated. The child obviously didn't understand the complexities of fighting a war.

"He said he had contacts, people who could get us what we needed. I had started volunteering for extra shifts in the Administration building. He told me he couldn't do it, because he would be recognized on security cameras, but no one would notice a young intern moving some boxes around.

"The morning the Touchpoint was announced we met up and he gave me the cart with the boxes. He told me how to get to the boiler room and how to arm the bomb.

"I was terrified, but I had lost everything because of these policies. I had to do something, and what were some empty offices compared to all the Somas who were dying? I thought I followed his directions to the letter. He told me I would have thirty minutes to get to safety after I armed the bomb, but I must have made some kind of mistake. It wasn't even ten minutes later that the bomb went off."

I shook my head. Naya didn't see that she was a liability, that the man who manipulated her had most likely expected that she wouldn't survive the explosion.

She turned to look at Rhuyin and I.

"I am so, so sorry," she said, then started sobbing. "I know you guys got hurt. I was so afraid when the explosion happened. I thought it was just supposed to be something small, that it would just be making a point. I didn't expect…"

I knelt down next to her.

"Naya, have you spoken to this Kyrmenos since the explosion?"

"I haven't been able to reach him," she said. "All my messages are bouncing back. It's like he just disappeared. I thought maybe I could find him at the park. That's where I was trying to go the day I met Tik in the hall."

"Would you be able to recognize him if you saw him?"

Her sobs had started to trail off as she tried to focus on Luke's questions.

"I-I think so," she said hesitantly, wiping tears away with the back of her hand. I noticed distantly that her painted nails were chipped and broken, some chewed to the quick and bloody.

"Did he have any distinguishing features? Scars? Tattoos? Anything like that?" Helios asked.

She started to shake her head, then stopped.

"I remember thinking it was a little weird. He wore gloves whenever we met," she said.

"Probably to avoid leaving any fingerprints that could be tracked back to him," Elex offered.

"I guess. I remember noticing that the little finger on his right glove was always flat, like he had a really short finger or the glove finger was empty."

Rhu's eyes shot to mine, our thoughts moving in in sync. We spoke in unison.

"Kopanos."

My thoughts were moving like lightning, pieces falling into place. His insistence on my title. Calling me mikros prinkipus. His hidden sources of information.

"Kopanos works for Alexandria," I breathed as I finally saw the big picture.

"But why would Kopanos work with Alexandria?" Hel asked. "He's a fucking Soma!"

I shook my head, still pulling my thoughts together.

"He's a Soma, but his career has been stalled for years. His family has a history of being political leaders, but he's been unable to find a Mageia to Bond with," Rhu said. "Garrick is his uncle. He was the former War Leader that Polemos—Erix—replaced."

"He's been responsible for training the new Mageia pairs. Erix mentioned that an inordinate number of new pairs had been killed in recent years," I added. "What if Kopanos has deliberately been sabotaging the training of Bonded pairs at the behest of Cyrius? If he is teaching them something that is making them vulnerable, it would make it easier to take them out in a fight."

"It makes sense," Allard offered. He had been quiet throughout Naya's confession. "It's exactly the kind of plot Aurelius would set up."

Aurelius was my father's Spy Master and had been Maalik's lover and mentor.

"Mikros prinkipus," I whispered, icy darkness spreading through my veins. "He got that from Aurelius."

Rhu placed his hand on my back and the warmth penetrated even the chill that flooded through me when I heard those words.

"We finally have the advantage," Rhu said. "He doesn't know we know."

I wrapped my arms around the still-crying Naya, anger burning in the pit of my stomach over how Aurelius had used this girl's grief to get her to do his dirty work.

"We need to talk to Erix," I said.