Ty sat with the question because his first answer was ugly.
The man had tried to kill him. That should have been enough. It would have been enough for most people in the arena, and plenty of them would have called it justice while stepping over the body.
Ty looked at the burned stumps where the man's hands had been.
"Because I am tired of watching people die for orders."
The man swallowed. The pills had dulled him a little, but not enough to make the room kind. His shoulders shook each time he pulled air in. The sealed skin along his wrists looked wrong, glossy in places and split in others.
Ty looked down at his own arms and found no comfort there. Acid had eaten through sleeves, skin, and whatever pride he had left about staying upright. He ran a thin line of black fire across a split near his ribs. The heat closed the worst of it and made the rest hurt sharper.
The man stared at the fire like it might turn on him again.
