Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

Every part of my body felt as though it belonged to someone else. Pain shot through each limb and muscle, causing spasms that reached down to the very bone. I had lost control of myself, and I couldn’t grasp that control back. My mind was hazy, my eyes were blind, and my body was not my own.

As I collapsed, I felt Navan’s strong arms around me. “Breathe, Riley, you have to breathe,” he whispered, his voice panicked as he bundled me against his chest. “You’re safe, you’re all right! I’m here. You have to breathe. Breathe for me, Riley. Please. You’re okay, I promise.”

With his arms to brace myself against, the trembling in my body ebbed. Navan’s body was stabilizing my own, preventing me from doing myself any real damage. With every whimper of pain, I felt his lips kiss my face, trying to bring me back from the edge of delirium. Slowly but surely, the pain and shivering began to die down. At last, they subsided completely, leaving me limp in Navan’s arms, and although I was the one trembling, from the look in Navan’s eyes we were both equally shaken.

He swallowed hard, and his voice was hoarse as he spoke the words we both knew to be true. “We can’t piss off Orion again.”





Chapter Twenty-Six





I slept late the following morning, my body aching, my eyelids heavy. I felt like I’d gone twelve rounds with a heavyweight, and now I was feeling the effects. My left leg was the worst, a dull throb there pulsing constantly.

“How are you feeling?” Navan asked for the millionth time. I appreciated his concern, but I was in an irritable mood thanks to the pain, and it was starting to get annoying.

“Better,” I lied, wanting him to stop asking.

“Do you feel up to an outing?” he asked, packing a few things into the bag he’d brought from the cabin. I was picking at the remains of a packet of biscuits and gravy, the thick, clumpy mixture making me feel even more nauseated.

I nodded, eager to be out of the stuffy room, which held so many nightmares. I couldn’t stop picturing the shifters on our bed, lounging back with their fleshy pouches pooling on the covers, and the cold sensation of the female’s hands on my neck. Flashbacks of Orion’s punishment exploded in my mind, forcing me to relive the pain and the shock of it. More than that, I was haunted by the dead-eyed corpse of Kalvin, the pike skewering him like a kebab. I needed fresh air and a change of scenery.

“The cabin?” I asked. Surely, the intel would have uploaded by now. If it had, it meant we’d have something concrete to send back to Orion, to get him off our backs. Hopefully, it would mean I could go home, and get this awful thing out of my neck, once and for all.

“As long as you’re up for it,” he replied, his tone laced with concern.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, infusing my voice with more confidence than I felt. “I’m feeling better.”

“As long as you’re sure…”

I grimaced. “I’m sure. Now, can we go, sometime before Vysanthe thaws out?”

He chuckled. “Coldblood humor—I like it,” he commended, slinging the bag onto his shoulder and heading for the door.

The flight to the cabin seemed to whizz by faster than it had the last time, with us reaching the woodland within half an hour of leaving the confines of Regium. I smiled as the dark trees approached, remembering the night Navan and I had spent asleep under the stars, cozied up in the warmth of the igloo. I thought of the skeletal fish, twisting and turning beneath the water of the pond, and the beautiful fireflies glowing in the darkness.

The good feeling didn’t last, however. When we set the Snapper down in the glade where the cabin sat, I was surprised to see another ship already sitting there in the open space. Panic shot through my veins, and I started hyperventilating. I was already on edge from the effects of the chip—I didn’t think I could cope with another surprise.

“Who is it?” I whispered, feeling foolish as I realized the owner of the ship couldn’t hear me from the passenger seat of the Snapper.

Navan frowned. “Lazar,” he answered, his eyes narrowing on the vessel.

“How do you know? Is he supposed to be here?”

Navan shrugged. “I left a message with him saying we’d be coming here today. I guess he thought he’d wait for us.”

“Don’t mind another man in your man cave?” I said, allowing myself a moment of levity as relief washed over me.

“Who said I didn’t mind?” Navan replied, a smile tugging at his lips. “He was supposed to wait outside.”

Lazar opened the door to greet us as we made our way across the glade toward the entrance to the cabin. His shoes were off, and he was wearing what looked like furry slippers. Navan eyed them, a glimmer of irritation passing across his face. It looked like Lazar had made himself a little too at home.

“Well, you took your time!” Lazar said, as Navan and I stepped into the warmth of the cabin.

Navan moved toward the black box he’d left on the coffee table, ignoring his uncle’s comment. As he reached it, however, a long string of expletives erupted from his throat. I hurried over to where he stood, just as he snatched up the box and shook it, hard.

“Useless piece of crap!” he yelled, shaking it once more for good measure.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying to get a look at the progress screen. Two words flashed up, in neon-blue letters: Data Corrupted.

“Did you do this?” Navan snapped, whirling around to look at Lazar.

He shook his head vigorously. “Of course not! It didn’t say that five minutes ago, I swear—it was hovering at ninety-nine percent.”

“Then that little suck-up must have given me a faulty disc,” Navan growled.

“I doubt he did it on purpose,” I said, feeling sorry for the little fanboy who had been so excited by Navan’s presence at the Observatory.

“Is there nothing we can use from it?” Lazar asked, wearing an expression of disappointment.

Navan exhaled, running a hand down his face. “I don’t have the tech here, and I don’t want to risk transmitting from anywhere that’s not remote.”

“How about we take it to the palace, extract what we can from the disc, and have a good look around while we’re waiting for it to upload again?” Lazar said. “Even if there is intel on there, it won’t include the palace—we should check for weaknesses there, do some multitasking. Then, we could come back here and get everything we have sent off at once.”

Navan scowled. “I really don’t want to go back there.”

“The queen will no doubt be expecting you to drop in on her at some point, thanks to your father’s meddling,” Lazar replied apologetically. “He’s calling you his deputy-chief advisor.”

Navan’s expression dropped in horror. “He’s not!”

“Oh, he is.” Lazar nodded. “Although, it’s probably not a bad idea for you to go and see her today—keep her sweet after last night’s debacle, smooth things over, you know.”