Page 67 of Legacy of Chaos

“I didn’t know you had another brother,” she said, bringing him back to the present, where time machines didn’t exist.

A dull ache centered in his chest. “His name was Chaos,” he said, his voice scratchy, a stranger to the topic. “He was Crux’s twin.”

“Crux?”

“The tall blond at the party the other night. The kid masquerading as Kynan’s nephew.”

Her pale eyebrows rose. “I remember him. But why the lie?”

“Because he hasn’t gone through his transition yet. Anyone who knows anything about my species would realize how young he is.”

“How young…” Her eyes shot wide as realization hit. “Oh, my gods. Sheoul-gra was destroyed thirty-one years ago, shutting down the reincarnation of demon souls. He’s what? Twenty-one or twenty-two? Which means he shouldn’t have been born.”

“Exactly. Now, you know why we keep his existence secret. Who knows what some psycho demons or human researchers would do with him. As far as anyone knows, Crux and Chaos are anomalies.”

“That’s…incredible.” Abruptly, her fascination became concern. “And you don’t worry that someone who knows will give up his secret?”

“Not really. My dad would kill whoever talked. Then I’d destroy their legacy, Rade would slaughter their entirebloodline, and Blade would bury the bodies. We’ve had it worked out pretty much since the twins were born.”

“Ruthless,” she murmured appreciatively, her voice a low, rumbling purr that went through him like a caress. Cocking her head, she gave him a questioning look. “How were the twins even born? Do you know?”

“There are a million theories,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve done a lot of research into it, and I believe that when Azagoth destroyed Sheoul-gra, there were a handful of unassigned souls in the pipeline, ready to be reincarnated. Instead of being returned to the bodies they’d died in to fight Azagoth’s war or being sent into waiting fetuses, they wandered around for a few years, searching for the right bodies for their souls.”

And now, because there was nowhere for demon souls to go, Chaos was either a lost soul somewhere or was being held prisoner in a soul trap made by Stryke’s company.

Fucking hell.

“Is it possible their souls were human? I mean, your mom is human.”

He practically hissed at the wrongness of that. Seminus demons weredemons. Not humans. “My mother is a warg,” he said, using the term most werewolves used for their kind. “She’s no longer human.”

“But according to most experts, werewolves who were turned, not born, have human souls.”

“It’s still not possible,” he said, shutting down that ridiculous line of thought.

She nodded thoughtfully. “So, is Chaos…is what happened to him why you’re estranged from your family? Do they blame you?”

That wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. Not now, not ever.

Something growled outside, and something else screamed, and he still thought he’d rather step into that malevolent hell fog than be talking about Chaos.

Yet the evil outside was the best reason to talk about it. If something happened to him, he wantedsomeoneto know his story. Besides, he owed Cyan. Not that he’d admit that to her.

“I’m pretty sure Blade blames me,” he said, feeling like the words were being forcibly dragged out. “The others say they don’t, but how can they not? It was my fault. Chaos is dead because of me.”

She took a drink of her water. “Is that why Blade attacked you the other night?”

His cheek throbbed in an echo of that fun little beating.

“We used to be tight.” He looked up at the maze of different-colored pipes weaving along the ceiling. He wondered where they all went. “It was always Blade and me against Rade.”

“Tell me,” she said softly.

He’d said too much already, and his throat was starting to close as if he were having an anaphylactic attack. What function did each pipe serve?

“It was a long time ago.”

“Maybe. But it’s still affecting you all today.”

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