Page 92 of Rhuyin

Luke

The room got quiet. Everyone knew that this is what they had been working toward. Ending Alexandrian rule was the reason that they had come to Illyria in the first place.

“How exactly do you think that we can accomplish this?” I asked. Since we arrived I’d discovered that Erix had an almost-mythical reputation as War Leader and I was curious what he had in mind.

“Well, I have a few ideas,” Erix responded with a small smirk, “But I am open to any thoughts that you may have.”

“We want to help, but we need to know what we’re getting into. I’m not going to waste the lives of the men and women who have fought so hard and come so far to escape Alexandria’s rule. I—” Elex’s rant was interrupted by a piercing noise that rang through the room accompanied by a strange vibration.

“That’s an Omada alert,” Erix announced. “Who the hell is getting an Omada alert?”

Everyone except Erix began fumbling with their cell phones. Helios and Elex both shook their head at my questioning stare.

“It’s—it’s me, sir,” Rhuyin said, holding his phone up.

Erix’s lips tightened in disapproval. “What the fuck are you doing getting an Omada alert? Aren’t you two Bonded?”

“It’s…complicated,” I said.

Rhu was staring at the text message he’d received. The shock that reverberated through the bond between us had me reaching out and placing my hand on his arm as he sat frozen, his gaze fixed reading the display on his phone, his face ashen.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s— goddess, how could I have been sostupid?” Rhu exclaimed as he brought his fist down on the table, his knucklesgoing white around the phone he held in his other hand. “It’s—Omada just assigned me a mission.”

“A mission?” I asked, looking back and forth between Rhu and Erix. “But you’re Bonded now! How can they send you on a mission?”

“I submitted the status change this morning. It must not have been processed yet…” he said, his voice trailing off. He looked at me and swallowed hard. “Everything just happened so fast between us, I completely lost track of the fact that I’d never told Commander O’Fallon that I needed to resign from Omada until last night. I sent the communique but…” he gestured at his phone helplessly.

“Do you know what the mission is?”

“No, not yet it. It just says that I need to report to the Omada headquarters immediately.”

“They can’t force you to go! Not now, right?” Elex demanded looking from Rhuyin to Erix.

“I’ve never liked the concept of Omada, but even as War Leader, there are limits to my authority,” Erix said, his face grim.

Rhuyin shook his head and ran his fingers through his inky black hair.

“Once a mission has been assigned, that’s it. No backing out. They told me that the day I signed up. I just… I‘ve been so happy…” he glanced at me, the devastation apparent in his gaze.

I reached out and took Rhuyin’s hand in his own, gripping it tight.

“Me, too,” I said, eliciting a small smile from my Bonded. “And no way in hell am I giving you up. So what happens now?”

“I don’t know for sure, since I’ve never done this before. Normally, I get my orders sent to me through my Commander. I haven’t received any from Omada before. It just says I need to report to the headquarters.”

We, I signed. Rhu looked at me dubiously, as if he was unsure if I was using the correct sign.

“We.” Elex echoed out loud, pointing from his right shoulder to his left, copying my sign. Rhu just looked at us in shock as Helios copied the movements.

We know what we’re saying.We’re going with you. There’s no way I’m letting you go by yourself,I signed.

I can’t let you do that! You aren’t even Illyrian military. You haven’t had any training,Rhu responded, his hands shaking.

“I disagree,” I replied, switching to speaking aloud, having reached the limit of my sign language knowledge. “We’ve spent most of the last ten years training to use our magic in battle. I can’t think of a better way to use it than to fight Alexandria.”

“I can’t risk you. How could I ask that of you?” Rhu demanded, one hand reaching out to cup my face. His thumb traced my skin tenderly.