Lifeblood (Everlife #2)

I tremble as I ask, “What name did you discover?”


“In her Firstlife, her name was Honor Flynn. The human she is supposedly Fused to is Estella Orzo.” He tenses as he says, “I visited her. That girl...my mother was not a part of that girl.”

The anger in his tone gives added weight to his conviction. Proceed with care. “You died as an infant and never met your mother. How are you so sure?” What finally convinced him?

“The things that girl was doing... My mother would never act that way. Would never attempt to sleep with me. Honor Flynn has to be somewhere else. Maybe you’re right, maybe she’s in Many Ends.”

I give him a comforting squeeze. “So...what do we do now?”

“I have to find a way in to search for her. If she’s there, I can’t leave her. I never knew her, but I need to know her.”

Dread slithers around me, a boa determined to choke all hope out of me. Killian is going to continue endangering himself, and one day he’s going to be caught.

“I will find a way back inside Many Ends, Killian. I promise you. I don’t know how many spirits are there—whether they’re all Unsigned or if Myriadians are part of the mix. I don’t know how many are trapped in the mountains, food for the birds and monkeys.” The monsters! “But we can rescue everyone...together.”

Words Archer once spoke to me. I chose to act without him, and I lost him. I pray Killian doesn’t choose to act without me.

“What do you remember about the entrance and exit?” he asks.

“Each time I entered, I died in physical form and simply woke up there. Twice my body was revived and I left as quickly as I arrived. The last time, I had to swim to the bottom of a lake filled with ravenous mermaids.” I shudder.

“A lake,” he says, and I wonder if there’s something similar inside Myriad.

I change the subject—for now—not wanting to give him any ideas. I don’t want him traversing Many Ends without me. “Any leads on the spy?”

“Nothing yet.”

Who could it be? Kayla, Reed, Deacon, Victor? I trust them. Elizabeth? I would love to blame her. Levi? Even though I’m angry with him, he doesn’t strike me as a fox but a shepherd. He fights foxes, keeping them away from his flock.

“If I had to guess, I’d say Victor,” Killian says. “He defected, but still has ties to Myriad.”

“What a shocker. You do remember you admitted you’ve never liked him, right?”

“Yes, but I like him even less since you met him,” he grumbles, and I laugh. “He always had a string of women chasing after him. He promised each of them the world, but never committed.”

Well. That certainly fits Kayla’s experience. “Is that the real reason you abducted him? To keep him away from me? And how did you wipe his memory?”

“I abducted him because I suspected him of being the spy, and I wanted to make sure he couldn’t pass information to Myriad. But information was passed even while I had him. And no, I didn’t wipe his memory.”

I cross Victor off my mental Who’s the Spy list. One down. “Then who did wipe his memory? And why did you suggest Victor was the spy if you knew he wasn’t?”

“I didn’t say I stopped suspecting him. He could have found a way to pass on your secrets while in captivity.”

Maybe, but not likely. “Then why did you set him free?”

“I didn’t. Sir Zhi Chen found him. My Leader.”

My throat constricts. “Did you get in trouble for harming one of your own?”

A corner of his mouth lifts with wry amusement. “I spun the story to best suit my needs. I received a reward.”

Phew. “I’m not surprised. Spinning is your specialty.”

“Actually, I spun the story with truth, said I had to prove I would do anything—absolutely anything—for you in order to earn your trust. Zhi doesn’t know that I’m doing these things because I love you, not because I plan to use your feelings for me against you.” He gives me another hard kiss, rocking my world, before standing and drawing me to my feet. “And now I should go. I’ve been off Grid too long already.”

I straighten my clothes, drink my vial of manna and tap my healing comm.

“Wait. I have something for you.” Killian won’t meet my gaze as he digs into the pocket of his jeans.

I laugh. “If you tell me the gift is your penis—”

“Please. I’ll save that very big gift for another day.” He dangles a necklace directly in front of my face. In the center hangs the symbol for pi.

My hand flutters over my mouth, my eyes widening, my heart swelling. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. A circle never ends.

Zero! For the second time today, tears well in my eyes. This is supposed to be a symbol of our relationship, isn’t it?

“I made it,” he admits, practically growling now. “I make things. Usually weapons. Which is unimportant right now.” Scowling, he presses my thumb in the middle of the symbol, and a soft vibration travels up my arm. A second later, his comm buzzes.

“See?” he says. “If you apply pressure, I’ll be summoned through an electrical pulse in my data pad. I’ll be able to track you—help you—wherever you are.”

I’m not just trembling as I accept; I’m melting all over again. I place the leather cord around my neck and hide the symbol under my shirt. “The fact that you made it makes me love it a thousand times more.” As his features soften, I add, “I—I want you to have this.”

I step out of my Shell, and motion for him to step out of his. As soon as he complies, I slip off the pistol ring and slide it onto his finger. His finger is much bigger than mine, of course, and the band only fits his pinkie.

We return to our Shells. “It belonged to Meredith, my grandmother,” I tell him. “It’s a piece of her...a piece of me. Of who and what I am.”

He looks at the ring, then at me, then the ring again. His eyes close for a moment, and his expression...he begins to glow, as if he’s been lit from the inside out.

“Thank you, lass. I will cherish the ring always.” He gently tugs a lock of my hair. “And I hope you’ll use the necklace if ever your life is in danger. Promise me you will.”

“If ever I’m in the Land of the Harvest and my life is in danger...and summoning you won’t endanger you...I promise I’ll use it.” He can’t pass through the Veil of Wings to reach me in Troika, but I suspect he would try if he thought I was in trouble—try until he died.





chapter twenty-one



* * *



“There is power in agreement.”

—Troika

I’m still reeling over Killian’s gift—and his promise—when I step through the Veil of Wings.

Levi is waiting for me, looking dapper in his customary pin-striped suit. No one else is around, and my anger returns full force.

I plant my fists on my hips and glare up at him. “Why didn’t you tell me about my mother?”

His lips compress, forming a thin line. “I planned to tell you after I’d found a Barrister for her case.”