She drew a breath to speak but was interrupted by a sudden laugh from Astrid. The lycan leaned her head back and laughed aloud. “So this explains why Jeremy was less horrified than I’d expected after bonding with the dungeon core! I was teasing him for enjoying having sex with a giant piece of crystal! Why didn’t you say anything, Jeremy?”

I shrugged. “I just figured Kyrine would show herself to you when she felt the time was right. It didn’t seem like it was my secret to reveal.”

Kyrine put her arm through mine and squeezed affectionately. “Jeremy is a chivalrous man, as well as an effective Keeper with great potential. You both did well in choosing.”

“Fifth time lucky,” muttered Astrid under her breath.

Belinda was smiling wryly, her gaze traveling between me and Kyrine. “Well, I’m glad we finally found a candidate to your liking,” she said. “What intrigues me most of all, Kyrine, is your appearance. You say that was what you looked like before you were reborn as a dungeon? You look like a genasi.”

“Genasi…” Kyrine rolled the word on her tongue, and a distant look came into her eyes for a moment. “Yes, the word does sound familiar. I believe I was a genasi once.”

“Exactly how old are you?” Astrid asked.

Kyrine shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t know. I bear few memories of my past life, just a few images and emotions. Whatever I was before, I am the dungeon core now.”

There was a moment’s silence while we all processed this, then Astrid spoke again. “Well, you’re fucking gorgeous,” she said with a grin. She took three long strides toward the dungeon avatar and threw her arms around her. Kyrine's eyes almost popped from her skull as the tall lycan squeezed her in a smothering hug.

“Thank you,” Kyrine managed to say as she disentangled herself from Astrid’s enthusiastic hug. Her lungs were obviously fighting for air as she recovered from Astrid’s painfully tight embrace.

“So, Belinda,” I asked, turning to the tentacle-haired psycher. “Did you make contact with your superiors? You said you were going to explain what was going on once you got back, but there’s no need now. Astrid has explained everything, about the EDI, and your boss, Agent Fallon.”

Belinda’s eyebrows shot up, and her eyes flicked toward Astrid.

Astrid shrugged. “There didn’t seem any point in withholding the information from him,” she said, a little defensively. “After all, he is the Keeper, and our mission is complete.”

“You’re probably right,” said Belinda, “though Agent Fallon seemed to think that it would be better to keep the involvement of the EDI a secret still, if possible. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, and there are more important things to discuss.”

“So you did make contact with your superiors, then?” I asked.