“So that’s a no?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “What do I look like to you? A handy helper?”
I don’t know what that is, but I assume it’s not great. Either way, I straighten and walk back over to him, stopping just in front of his chest. I’m in his space, and he tenses, but he doesn’t step back.
“I thought you were a legend,” I say, staring at him.
His brows pull in. “A legend that stays alive,” he counters. “I don’t go around taking unnecessary risks. A Bone Breaker is hardly worth all this trouble. Trust me.”
My face twists. Without looking away from him, I call, “Svetlana, wake up! We’ve gotta go.”
I hear her rise in the other room and groggily say something in another language I don’t understand. “But I want to sleep,” she calls back, clearly agitated as she appears slowly from the doorway to the room. She sees Havoc and immediately straightens, lifting taller on her legs. “Oh, hello handsome,” she purrs despite the grogginess. “You have such a pretty head.”
Havoc just looks from the praying mantis to me and shakes his head, clearly done with us.
“So, you won’t help?” I clarify. He doesn’t answer, only stares at me. “Fine,” I grunt. “Never meet your heroes, huh?”
He takes a step back finally and tips up his chin. “There are no heroes here, player,” he replies. “Only survivors.”
I scoff. “Some fucking legend,” I spit, before I scoop up Svetlana and storm out the door.
CHAPTER42
HAVOC
That just goes to show how much of an idiot I was for interfering last night. I should have just let the orc take her. It’s not my business when a player drinks more than they can handle and finds themselves in deep shit. When the bug had appeared on my shoulder, demanding I help her in slurred speech as she was being carried away, I’d hesitated. I never help. I never get involved. But there I was, stepping in front of the orc from The Ripsnarl pack. Now I’ll have to deal with that fallout. Word’ll get around. I’ll probably have to fend off a few of their people before they’re reminded not to fuck with me. All because I couldn’t keep my nose to myself.
But it wasn’t just because of the bug. There was something about the woman. Something I can’t put my finger on. I wanted to stay out of it. I’m certainly not going to help her now. Bone Breakers aren’t worth the trouble of the sewers and if she wants to die trying to save one, that’s on her. I’ve watched so many players die, it doesn’t bother me.
But . . . there’s a light about her.
I sigh and sit back at the table, staring at the newspaper in front of me, her face front and center. The headline reads, “Luxe Has a New Favorite Player,” and the article talks about some of her highlights. She hadn’t even registered the photo, or that she was the subject of the paper. She hadn’t asked. She hadn’t looked.
Fuck, why am I considering going after her? I haven’t survived this long by chasing idiots into the sewers, that’s for sure.
I clench my fist. “Fuck,” I say out loud, the silence closing in on me.
It isn’t until that silence is interrupted that I truly realize just how silent it had been.
“Hello, Havoc.”
I freeze at the sound of the familiar voice, my fingers digging into my thigh.
“What do you want?” I finally grunt, staring at the wooden table.
Cipher hasn’t talked to me in years. Oh, he had at the beginning, incessantly talking until it drove me mad. But we’d had a falling out, and he’d gone silent. My head has been silent ever since.
And lonely. But that’s none of his business.
“Is that anyway to greet an old friend?” Cipher goads, just as much of an asshole as I remember.
“I wouldn’t consider you a friend,” I growl. “Get out of my head.”
Cipher chuckles. “It’s funny you think I can do that.”
I pause, not wanting to ask the question, not wanting to know if he’s been there the whole time even in the silence. Even when I’d asked for him. Begged for a single word to break up the loneliness. Fuck him. Fuck this place. And fuck the entire world I’ve been forced to survive in.
“She needs your help,” Cipher says when I don’t say anything.
