Page 80 of Legacy of Chaos

Everyone jumped into action, but as Stryke went to join Cyan at the blueprints, Blade’s hand came down on his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“You never said how this happened.”

It wasn’t an unreasonable request, but Blade had turned it into a dickish demand.

“Short version? An oil company drilled into Sheoul. StryTech bought the rig to seal the breach. But it sprung a leak, and here we are.”

Blade seemed satisfied by Stryke’s answer, but he didn’t budge. “It must have been hard for you to call me for help.”

“You really want to get into this now?” Stryke snapped. “Jesus, Blade, for all you throw shit at me for being a fuckup, your hatred of me makes you stupid and puts everyone around you at risk. So, take your hypocrisy and shove it up your ass.”

“Are you kidding me?” Blade asked, incredulous. “You’re the one who hatesme. You think I forgot that time we got into that fight at Underworld General, and the sentry attacked you?”

“The sentry?” Cyan asked.

Scotty leaned over and spoke quietly, but even over the angry roar of his pulse in his ears, Stryke heard her say, “It’s a statue inside the hospital that senses when someone wants to kill. It bites and paralyzes that person long enough for the staff to restrain them. Very painful.”

Cyan frowned. “Isn’t Underworld General covered by an anti-violence spell that prevents fights?”

“Our family is exempt,” Mace said. “We get to fight with each other all we want.”

“Stryke didn’t want tofight,” Blade said in an angry, accusatory tone, his gaze locked hard with Stryke’s. “He wanted to kill me.”

Son of a bitch. Stryke was sick of this shit. He was sick of letting Blade treat him like a punching bag, no matter how much he deserved it.

“I didn’t want to kill you!” Stryke roared, his hands clenched, his temper finally erupting. “It wasn’t about you! Not everything is fucking about you!”

“Yeah, who then?”

Everyone stared, the crewmembers shrinking back from what probably looked like the start of a brawl. Blade would like that. Screw Blade. He wasn’t getting any of Stryke’s blood today.

Releasing his fury, he barked out a bitter laugh. “Fuck off. It doesn’t matter. I’m out of here. Cyan, meet me in my office with your decision.” He stormed out the door and headed for his office, but he only got a few yards before the sound of running footsteps came up behind him.

“Stryke?” Cyan’s hand caught his and pulled him to a stop. “You okay?”

Sighing, he swung around to her. “Fighting with Blade isn’t anything I haven’t done before.”

She pursed her lips and slid her gaze to the wet deck before looking back up. “Was he right?” she asked quietly. “Did you want to kill him?”

“Back then? No. Right now? I’m entertaining the idea.” He wasn’t serious, but damn, his brother could use a broken jaw.

“Who was it, then? Who did you want to kill?”

Inhaling a deep, ragged breath, he looked out at the boiling wall of fog a few meters away. Hideous faces and horrific images formed in the mist, and the sounds that emerged…hesuppressed a shudder. He would not look forward to trying to get to the other side of it.

“It’s not important,” he said. “It’s in the past, and no one died.”

She didn’t appear to have heard him. “Someone close to you? An enemy?”

Both.

“I mean, if you—”

“Me, Cyan,” he blurted suddenly. “I wanted to kill myself.”

She stood there, stunned, but no more than he was. He’d never told anyone that. Not even Masumi, and she probably knew more about him than anyone did.

“Wow,” she murmured. “Because of what happened to Chaos?”

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