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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

Kaveh looked at Cora. “What’s he talking about?”

“I don’t know.”

“YOU HAVE BEEN GRIEVOUSLY INJURED AND REPAIRED. I DON’T THINK HUMAN DOCTORS COULD REPAIR HUMAN BIOMATTER SO SKILLFULLY. WHO DID THIS TO YOU? DID OUR BELOVED HURT YOU, LITTLE COUSIN?”

“No!” she blurted. “No, no, no, he didn’t do it.” She noticed Kaveh’s look of shock quickly morph into suspicion. “Ampersand didn’t . . . he didn’t hurt me.”

“WHO DID HURT YOU, LITTLE COUSIN?”

She looked at Kaveh, unsure of the wisdom of sharing this truth, and decided it was time to change the subject, before even more beans could be spilled. “Kaveh, have you ever been on TV before?”

Smooth.

He eyed her skeptically. “Yeah, lots of times.”

“I, um . . . I agreed to do an interview on The Hot Seat with Satomi Mack.”

“Holy shit, when?”

“Day after tomorrow.”

“Holy shit!” He sprang to his feet. “That’s awesome!”

“Awesome?” she said, standing up to meet him.

“Yeah, you want to be an advocate? This is the quickest and easiest way to do it. Can’t believe MSNBC got you first; you could have been a real get for Oprah or 60 Minutes. Well, if you were ‘breaking your silence,’ which I don’t think is the narrative we want to go with. You don’t want to be Monica Lewinsky trying to set the record straight, you want to be, well, mirrorverse Jano Miranda. Always play offense, never play defense.”

“Have you done The Hot Seat?”

“Not that show, but I’ve done ones like it. They’ll probably have you up against someone from the opposing side.”

“What?” She blanched. “Oh, God, what have I agreed to?”

“You can always pull out,” he said with a wry smile.

“But those things you said about how we need to do anything in our power to oppose the Third Option?”

“I left a perfectly good ‘that’s what she said’ hanging. Right there. And you didn’t take it.”

She stared at him blankly. “This is serious.”

“So is a good ‘that’s what she said’ left un-she-said’d. Tsk, tsk.” Then he boldly took a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger. “We’re going to have to do something about this blue raspberry look, though.”

He held on to the lock of hair a little too long, a little too intimate, smiling at her like warm honey and sparking a little electric jolt in her chest, equal parts excitement and fear. His natural charm must have been part of what made him so exceptional in his line of work; he could disarm people with that honey smile before they even realized he’d rendered them defenseless.

“Did you drive up here?” he asked.

“Yeah.”