Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

Crouched behind the stack of crates, we waited until Aurelius and the new recruits had gone inside the compound before hurrying after Navan. He was waiting for us at the edge of the lake, a perplexed expression on his face.

“Do you think that’s enough to satisfy Orion?” he asked as we neared.

Lazar frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we know the new recruits are terrible. They have little training, and, with the queen sending the best troops out into the universe to steal and plunder, that means her half of Vysanthe will be left exposed,” he said. “Orion would only need to wait until the main corps were otherwise engaged, the squadrons dispersed to every quarter of the universe.”

“And, we have what is left on that disc, as well as the map you’ve made,” I added, the idea of home drawing closer.

Lazar shook his head. “The Vysanthean army is the most fearsome in the universe. Even if the new recruits are terrible, the rebels wouldn’t be able to fight the true army off if they answered the queen’s call for help.”

“That’s Orion’s problem, not ours,” Navan said irritably. “We’ve found the intel he asked for, and now it’s time for us to leave.”

Lazar sighed. “Well, we can certainly send it and see what he says… which brings me to what I wanted to say before,” he said, returning his focus to me.

“About me?” I asked, frowning.

He nodded. “That message I received… it was from Seraphina.”

“Seraphina?” Navan said, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

“She sent a letter regarding the marks on Riley’s neck,” Lazar explained. “I presume she saw them when the pair of you were introduced last night. Anyway, she is concerned that you might be in danger, Riley, and she has asked me to ensure that the offending item is removed.”

Navan and I exchanged a look, my brow furrowed with panic. Nobody was supposed to know about the chip. How could Seraphina know what was under my skin? Curiosity bubbled away inside me, but I knew I couldn’t ask how Seraphina knew about the chip without revealing the presence of the one in my neck.

“Seraphina was involved in a kidnapping several years back,” Lazar went on, apparently reading my mind. “The people who took her implanted a chip in her neck that could control and immobilize her if she didn’t do as she was asked—or if her parents didn’t answer the ransom. I found her when she fled her kidnappers, and it was me who removed the chip before they had the chance to set it off,” he added, eyeing me curiously.

“Poor Seraphina,” I murmured lamely.

“Seraphina is worried you have a chip in your neck, Riley,” Lazar said pointedly. “Is she right?”

I shook my head defiantly. “No, I have no idea what she’s talking about,” I lied, lifting my coat collar to cover my neck, making a show of shivering violently.

“Well, I could… remove it, Riley,” Lazar said. “I just need to see exactly where it is. If you tell me, I can get rid of it before anyone suspects a thing.”

“She said she doesn’t know anything,” Navan growled, coming to my defense, and I was grateful. I had always been a terrible liar.

“You would let her keep that thing inside her, Navan?” Lazar reprimanded, turning on his nephew. “Do you know what those things can do?”

Navan grimaced.

Lazar sighed heavily. “I am guessing you’ve already experienced a taste of its power, but if Riley is still standing, it means you haven’t seen the worst of it. You need to tell me where it is, so I can remove it.”

All I could think about was the threat Orion had made before we left Earth. It had not seemed like an empty one. But he would kill me if Navan or I so much as uttered a word about the chip to Lazar, I just knew it. Glancing at Navan’s face, I could see that he was apprehensive too.

“There is no chip, Uncle,” Navan maintained, but Lazar still wasn’t letting it go. Why, I wasn’t even sure—what difference did my wellbeing make to him?

“You don’t have anything to fear, Navan,” he explained. “The only thing you have to fear is what will happen if you leave that thing in Riley. Now, I’m guessing Orion put it there, but I was assigned to watch the pair of you closely. Orion won’t hear about the missing chip unless I tell him, which I’m not going to. He can activate the chip from afar, but he can’t see what’s happening through it—it’s not a camera. He has to be told when and where to activate it, and I won’t be breathing a word of its absence.”

I stared at him. “Why… Why would you defy him? Aren’t you supposed to be one of his best men?”

A sad smile crossed Lazar’s lips. “While I agree with the vision that Orion has, I don’t always agree with his methods,” he admitted quietly. “There are times when I find myself wondering how the two of us ever came to work together—we are so different, and yet so similar, at the same time. Regardless, I refuse to put my nephew’s soulmate in danger because of Orion’s need to control, using whatever terrible means he sees fit to use.”

I flushed at the term “soulmate”, but it was especially confusing coming from Lazar. Not so long ago, he had flat-out refused to help us, and now he was offering to remove a chip that had been placed in my neck by his leader. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The only thing I could assume was that, without sons of his own, Lazar’s protective instincts of his nephew were taking over. I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that Lazar gave a damn about me, but he cared for Navan—it was clear in everything he did. And, if Navan cared about me, then maybe, just this once, Lazar’s bubble of protection would extend to me.

“There is no chip, Uncle,” Navan replied faintly, the conviction gone from his words. I could see he was mulling over what his uncle had said, and the potential power the chip held over me. We couldn’t trust Orion not to push the proverbial red button, and what we really needed was to make sure we got the chip out before he had a chance to activate it again.

“Keep up the pretense all you like, but if you want that chip removed, meet me tonight, at the Asterope,” Lazar said finally. “I have instruments there that will ensure the safe removal of the implant. I did the same thing for Seraphina, all those years ago—I have not forgotten how.”

“Why would you help us?” I asked.

Lazar sighed. “I meant what I said before about not always agreeing with Orion’s methods, and Navan is my nephew. But I suppose you could also call it morbid curiosity, if you like. I’m a medical man by profession, though I haven’t been able to do much since the war ended. I dabble here and there, but I’m excited to get my hands dirty with something innovative again—you know, to keep the mind fresh. Removing that chip will be just the booster I need to feed that little whisper of excitement.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being an object he could “dabble” with, but if this bit of surgery could potentially save my life, then maybe it was worth the risk.

“Now, I must return to the others,” Lazar said softly. “I’ll leave you to make your decision in peace, while I go and tell them the good news.”

“Good news?” Navan asked.