Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

Lazar walked up to Navan and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I understand, Navan. I won’t force you to speak to him. However, I should warn you, he will likely be at the celebration tonight. You won’t be able to avoid him forever.”

Jareth Idrax was going to be at the celebration? Did that mean I was finally going to meet the man who had caused Navan so much heartache and devastation? A shiver of fear ran up my spine. Men like Jareth rarely got to where they were by being anything but ruthless. With Navan already in a grim mood, I could just imagine the exchange that might occur. I was going to have to keep a close eye on him.

“Was that everything? Queen Gianne said you were looking for us,” Navan sighed, rubbing at his temples.

“I managed to pilfer some of those human food pouches from the Asterope—thought Riley could use one right about now,” he explained.

Immediately, Navan’s face softened. “Thank you, Uncle.”

“Think nothing of it—can’t have her starving to death,” Lazar replied, flashing me a surprisingly sympathetic look. “Do you have anything for me?”

Navan nodded. “We got some intel from the Observatory, but I haven’t been able to send it to Orion yet. It’s safe, but it’s still uploading.”

“Excellent,” Lazar said, his eyes lighting up. “Do let me know when it’s sent, so I can see how much longer we have to stay in this hostile place.”

“Will do.”

“Now, I suggest the pair of you go and make yourselves look presentable,” Lazar insisted, as he passed Navan a sack filled with the astronaut food. “I’ll see you at the celebration later.”

We left, and had just reached the end of the hallway when three figures sprang out of nowhere, cornering us into an annex that branched off from the main walkway. A shock of white-blond hair bobbed in front of my eyes.

Kalvin, Nestor, and Cristo stood around us, a hint of threat in the air. Their eyes were narrowed, and there were fading bruises on their faces. It seemed the interrogators had hit them much harder than Navan or me.

Kalvin pressed forward, looming over me, a leer in his eyes. Navan immediately stepped between us and pushed his hands against the coldblood’s shoulders, forcibly shoving him away.

“About time you two showed up,” remarked Kalvin, flashing a grin. “Thought you’d abandoned us.”

“You’d be the first to jump ship,” Navan retorted.

Kalvin rolled his eyes. “I was just wondering if you’ve managed to mess things up for us yet? You’ve been missing a fair while—I expect you’ve done something stupid.”

“We’ve been keeping to the mission, instead of loitering in hallways,” Navan said drily.

Kalvin stepped away, his brow furrowed. “You’d better not ruin this for us, Idrax. We’ve been waiting a long time for this moment, and if you slip up, there’ll be hell to pay.”

With that, the trio of coldbloods turned and stormed down the corridor, disappearing from sight.

“Idiots.” Navan scowled, then glanced down at me. “You okay?” he asked, his tone softening.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “Let’s just get out of this hallway.”

I lingered close to him as we made our way back to the ship. Lost in my own thoughts, I kept mostly silent during the journey back to the place we’d spent that first night on Vysanthe. I didn’t know why we were going back there, but I presumed it had something to do with pleasing the queen. Not to mention the fact that I’d seen a few gowns hanging in the wardrobe—perhaps I could borrow one. It seemed unlikely, but what else were they for?

Docking the Snapper at the hangar below, we took the elevator up to the top floor and sought out our room.

When we arrived, however, we found the door swung open, and the interior ransacked. Chairs and tables were toppled onto the floor, and the clothes from the wardrobe were slung all over the place. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

I began to panic, wondering if someone had been sent to search our room for the disc that Navan had taken from the Observatory. Did they know? Was someone onto us?

Then a cold laugh split the air, a shimmering motion revealing the two shapeshifters, who were lounging on the beds. They had camouflaged themselves to the color of the bedding, but now they were visible, their disgusting flesh pooling on the covers.

“Comfy digs you’ve got here,” the female shifter remarked.

“What are you doing here?” Navan snarled. “Get out, before I throw you out!”

The female shifter exchanged a glance with her partner. “We had a hunch. Thought you might be trying to escape back to Earth. No evidence, as yet. But there’s still time for your betrayal,” she said coolly, flicking lint off one of her sacks of skin. “We have our eyes on you.”

“Thought we’d enjoy these sweet quarters while we were at it,” the male shifter cackled. I grimaced, wondering what they’d been up to while we were gone. Deciding it was better not to know, I pushed the thought from my mind.

“Suppose we’d better be off,” the female shifter sighed. “Got to look like that fat toad, and the skinny, useless one.”

I frowned. “Who?”

“Kiel and Grillo, I think their names were,” the male shifter replied. “If I’d known old queenie was going to let us off anyway, we’d never have done away with them. Oh well, can’t be helped now.”

Without another word, they got up and waddled from the room, their skins changing from wormy pink to ashen gray within mere moments. As they exited, they had taken on the mantle of coldbloods—one of them looking the spitting image of our interrogator, Kiel.

I shuddered, wondering what they’d done with Kiel and Grillo’s bodies. More than that, I feared what would happen if those bodies ever got discovered.

“I hope they disposed of them properly, where no one will find them,” Navan muttered, voicing my own concerns.

“Yeah, well, I guess we don’t really have time to worry about that now,” I said, sighing. If we were going to get through tonight, we needed to make sure we were convincing. Navan was to be the hero, returning home after a trying expedition. And I was to be… his pet. I swallowed. “We should get ready. Tonight won’t be easy.”

Navan nodded. “You’re right,” he said quietly. “Everyone will be watching us tonight.”





Chapter Twenty-Three





Dressed in a scarlet silk gown that I had taken from the wardrobe in our chambers, I couldn’t help marveling at the transformation. With my hair curled and flowing past my shoulders, and a touch of Vysanthean mineral makeup I’d found in a drawer, I looked like an entirely different woman compared to the tired and faint girl I’d been a few hours ago.

Navan looked more handsome than ever in a high-collared suit that matched the color of his eyes—a deep, slate gray. It was hard to keep my eyes off him. Stealing glances at him, I found that he was looking at me too, his eyes wide with appreciation.