Page 152

Something dug in my chest at the undeniable hatred in his voice. Whoever was behind this mask was a man I considered family, and I would’ve given everything if he’d just asked. But instead, here we were.

My heart hardened at that thought. “Well, get ready to meet yours.”

He let out an ear-splitting laugh. “One shot and you light this whole place on fire,” he said, making a show with his hands. “And boom, we both die. Your wife is also here somewhere, isn’t she?”

I stilled as my brain made the connection, my eyes going to the gas cylinders lined up on both sides, hissing out some heavy chemical in the air. The fucker has doused the entire place with it. One wrong move and this place was going to light up like a wildfire.

“I don’t need guns to kill you.” I put my gun aside and pulled out my knives.

“Of course, the great Arkane doesn’t need guns.” He slowly approached me, his steps confident, like he had no ounce of fear in his body. “You’re after all…”

I didn’t let him finish the sentence. Jumping forward, I plunged the blade straight into his spleen, but he reacted quickly, dodging my attack at the last second.

“Bad Arkane,” he chided with a vacant laugh. “Making a move while speaking, ugh? Didn’t Daddy teach you manners? Aren’t you Daddy’s…” And this time, he jumped on me, charging straight forward with his knife. But I’d anticipated his attack and sidestepped him and blocked it with the back of my forearm. The force was enough to send him back a step, but he gathered his balance and charged at me again.

“You’re going to fucking die, Arkane,” he promised, swinging the blade at my neck. The tip of it almost kissed my neck when I narrowly dodged it, dropped to my knees, and slashed my blade across his gut in a single swipe.

He let out a muffled cry, and I took the tiniest gap to hook my leg under his knee and knock him down. A thud echoed through the empty tunnels when his head met the ground.

“Let’s see who’s dying now.” I kicked his knife away and climbed on top of him, and raged my fists at him over and over again. He blocked most of it with his arms, but my punches only intensified as all the years of repressed fury poured out of me.

I had sparred with my friends and brothers multiple times. I knew their style like the back of my hand. But this? I had no clue. It was like I was fighting with an entirely new person.

Was I wrong?

Was it not one of them?

He was sharp and quick, and intelligent enough to break through my techniques.

In a sudden move, he put his entire power into his hips and twisted his body to his side. Sending a hard elbow to my chest, he escaped my hold, staggered back to his feet, and went straight for his knife. I huffed as my shoulders went crashing to the ground, and my wrists slid across the rough surface when I caught myself. I threw my legs in the air and leaped up, hardly a second to catch my breath, when he rushed toward me.

A series of swishes sliced through the air as he wailed his blade at me. It grazed my torso, tearing through my shirt and flesh. But I could hardly feel the sting of the wound over the powerful rush in my blood and the heavy pounding of my heart.

My fist slammed into his gut, while my other hand twisted his elbow at an angle. The sudden motion had him dropping his blade, and my arms choked around his neck from behind.

“Fuck you,” he cursed, fighting against my hold, but I had him in a deadlock.

“Who the fuck are you, bastard?” I spat, my fingers crawling over to his neck to tear open his mask, but it wouldn’t fucking budge. It was the kind with a fucking lock around his neck, made of some kind of metal.

His cruel chuckle filled the air. “You think getting me is that easy? I’ve been planning this my whole life, you fucker.” He sent a hard back kick with his heel that I didn’t see coming. I lost my balance, taking us both to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, he slammed his knife into my thigh and almost broke my jaw with a sharp uppercut, which knocked the breath out of me for a moment and sent black dots to the edges of my vision. Searing pain consumed my right leg as I struggled to get back up.

“Not much you can do now, can you?” he gritted out, his fingers creeping under my collar and ripping the chain from my neck. “I came for this, but you’ve fucking pissed me off, Arkane.” He gave me another sharp kick to my side as he held the chain tight.

“Why?” I asked the one question that’d been burning in my head.

“Because all of this is supposed to be mine,” he shouted, almost possessed. “It was my mission as the White Hand to cleanse this world from the darkness you caused. The power has deluded you, but one day you’ll see. The Alacteon shouldn’t exist. It’s wrong. It’s evil. Evil!”

What the fuck was he talking about? Cleanse the world?

All this time, I thought he was doing it for selfish reasons, but I think I was finally seeing what a crazy fucking lunatic he was.

“You’re going to die tonight, Arkane. The city will have a new king tomorrow. Any last words?” he snarled, digging his shoe into my neck.

At that moment, it was clear to me that whoever the fuck he was, he wasn’t family. He never was.

CHAPTER 41