Page 70 of Legacy of Chaos

Of course, she called him on it.

“Bullshit. Something happened. It was as if a switch turned on. I saw it, Stryke, so don’t try to tell me I didn’t.”

Closing his eyes, he just stood there, too tired to argue. Besides, it was pointless. She’d figured it out. Lying would only insult them both.

“You’re right, but we’re done talking.” His brother should arrive soon. “We need to prepare for Blade.”

The door at the far end of the engine room opened, and Taran called out. “I’ve got the images. I’ll be right there. I need to check some gauges really quick.”

Cyan turned to Stryke as Taran disappeared behind a wall of equipment. “You never told me what you said when you contacted Blade.”

For the first time ever, he was glad to change the subject to that particular brother. “I told him to bring some prototypes from StryTech labs. A diffuser powered by Heavenly material that I hope will disperse the fog and an amplifier that might allow you to fix the glyphs remotely.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Quillax helped the devs design it after he did the oil platform job. He hated going down in the sub.”

“Has it been tested?”

“Unsuccessfully,” he admitted. “Quillax gave it a trial run the last time he was here. According to him, it wasn’t powerful enough, but my people have been working on it, so there’s a chance it’ll be sufficient for your needs now.”

She scowled, her gaze turned inward. He liked how she looked when she concentrated: like a sexy professor or a scientist pondering a complex equation. Did she ever wear glasses? Because he’d like that even more.

He’d never been one to fantasize about females, yet suddenly, he was picturing her in front of a DNA sequencer as she explained, in seductive, scientific terms, how it worked. And she was wearing nothing but a lab coat, glasses, and high heels.

Stop it! The world was in danger, and his Seminus instincts chosenowto suddenly thaw from the deep freeze he’d put them in? Inconvenient and unacceptable.

“Hmm.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe that’s what happened to the spells. Maybe it wasn’t intentional, after all. If he attempted to use the device on them, it’s possible thefailureactually caused the deterioration.”

That made a lot of sense. More than thinking Quillax had intentionally messed with the glyphs.

“Hopefully, you can make it work this time,” he said. “We need to get your spells into the depths without actually going down there.”

Cyan was quiet for a long time. “And if we can’t?”

Then we might be very, very fucked.

Leaders didn’t say that kind of shit, though. Ares was fond of saying, “No matter how badly the war is going, if you can’t withdraw, you tell your troops the battle is worth it and that there is always hope.”

So, instead of telling Cyan they were all probably going to die, he said, “Blade will get us off this thing. I know him, and I know Kynan. They have a plan.”

“That’s great,” she said. “But escape means leaving the breach unsealed, right?”

Behind them, the sound of the door opening announced Taran’s arrival.

“Yes.” There was no way to sugarcoat what that meant. Not even Ares would be able to find hope. “And without a miracle, the planet will face a disaster of Biblical proportions.”

“So…just another day on planet Earth.”

Her delivery was deadpan and perfect. Gallows humor was the best kind. Especially when it was so fitting.

One second, Cyan thought she had Stryke figured out. The next, he blew her away with some new revelation. He’d exposed his soul and flayed hers when he revealed his past, agony, and…vulnerability.

She got the feeling he didn’t do that easily or often, and for some reason, he’d brought her into a circle of trust that was, no doubt, very, very small.

She contemplated the significance of that as she looked over the images Taran had left with them. She couldn’t imagine the burden Stryke carried or the difficulty of being a sex demon who needed—but hated—sex. Had he ever sought help? Counseling?

She wished her mom was alive to ask for advice. But she wasn’t. Because she’d died of a literal broken heart when the bond between her parents broke. Because of a StryTech device malfunction.

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