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Back Truth of the Divine Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. Also By Lindsay Ellis and Available From Titan Books
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Author’s Note
  7. Part 1: It’s A Fool Who Plays It Cool
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. Part 2: Love Has A Nasty Habit Of Disappearing Overnight
  15. 7
  16. 8
  17. 9
  18. 10
  19. 11
  20. 12
  21. 13
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. 20
  29. 21
  30. 22
  31. 23
  32. 24
  33. 25
  34. Part 3: A Crowd Of People Stood And Stared
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. Part 4: Happiness Is A Warm Gun
  57. 47
  58. 48
  59. 49
  60. 50
  61. 51
  62. 52
  63. 53
  64. 54
  65. 55
  66. 56
  67. 57
  68. A Fiction Agreed Upon
  69. Acknowledgments
  70. About the Author

Holy shit, she thought, stung. He did it again. She knew they didn’t have the luxury to squabble, not now, but it was so hard not to be mad at him, not to allow the internal space for how hurt she was by all this. In his alien head, he was only acting logically; really, wasn’t she the problem for having a problem? Obelus wasn’t even in the body that had harmed her so badly anymore. And now Ampersand had taken a mere suggestion about using the American surveillance state to their advantage and assumed it was a threat of betrayal.

“I won’t tell anyone about Obelus,” she said, trying to flush out the hurt. She sat down on the edge of the bed, facing him. “Just . . . work with me. I’m your friend. I’ve always been your friend.”

He regarded her, then lifted up his hand, either like he wanted her to take it or like he was about to touch her. She reached out for it, then nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of knuckles rapping at the door to the room, but not the door leading to the hallway, the door to the adjoining room. Kaveh’s room.

“Hey!” he chirped from the other side of the door. “Are you awake? You know what, it doesn’t matter. If you’re not awake, wake up!”

She looked at the door, shook off her surprise, then looked at Ampersand. “Will you listen to him?”

Knock, knock, knock. “Wake up! Or at least, please don’t have snuck out on me.”

“Just a second,” she said. She got off the bed, put her jeans back on, while Ampersand held his head high like he was a medieval lord deigning to speak to the peasantry. She unlocked the door and opened it.

Kaveh beamed at her for half a second before he saw who was perched on the bed behind her.

“Been busy?” she asked.

The man grew contrite, his green eyes darting back and forth between Cora and Ampersand. “I get the impression that I was interrupting something. I can come back later.”

“It’s fine,” said Cora, taking him by the wrist, pulling him into the room, and shutting the door behind him. Cora crossed in front of him and sat down on the end of the bed next to Ampersand, head high, back straight, and looked at him as if to say, Well? Get on with it.