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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

Then he stepped around Kaplan, through the door and into the hallway. Cora was where he’d left her, sitting next to Luciana on a bench in the corridor, Luciana wearing the expression of an army wife who’d lost her husband and son on the same day, Cora next to her, knees drawn to her chest, blood still all over her clothes, looking like she’d just been dragged out of the killing fields of Cambodia. Neither of them had moved. Yep, she’d heard most of that conversation with Hossein, if not all of it.

She didn’t look at him as he approached, and neither did Luciana. He squatted into her line of sight, slipping a hand into hers. “Will you come with me?”

“Are they going to put me in an institution?”

“Not unless you think you should go to one. Do you?”

She shook her head in sharp, jerky motions, her now-bedraggled Hollywood starlet hair falling into her face. “Please, no.”

“Okay, come on,” he said, standing up, keeping his hand in hers. “I’m going to take you home with me.”

Cora stood up, that shell-shocked expression taking on a hint of gratitude. Luciana started to move like she knew this was inappropriate, that she should be the one looking after Cora, not Kaveh, a man she hardly knew. But she didn’t say anything, didn’t say anything, didn’t even get up.

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35

For perhaps the first time in his adult life, Kaveh had no clue what he should be doing.

He wanted to touch her, or at least say something to improve the situation, but she seemed so brittle, holding her hands together so tightly on the drive back to his house that they’d have broken the skin if she had any fingernails left. Once home, he tried to ply her with food, anything he had on hand (which wasn’t as much as he usually did, since these digs were more temporary than his New York apartment). He offered her Pirate’s Booty, an apple, a granola bar, anything he had in his pantry, but she looked at all of it like he was asking her to eat live insects.

“Please, eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Please, for me?”

Eventually, she conceded to a DiGiorno pizza heated in the oven, or at least a small part of one. He watched her chew it like it was made of rubber, gnashing her teeth painfully. After finishing about one and a half flimsy slices, she said, “Please, don’t make me eat any more.”

It went against every instinct in his body to yield to her wishes. “Okay. Let’s get you cleaned up, and I’ll, uh . . . get the guest room set up for you.”