DoriaN A Read online

  Only the board members of Nairod Inc scowled.

  They had had this forced upon them.

  But if Dorian insisted on it, they had no choice but to go along with it. No matter how much they disagreed.

  Who could believe that the man standing before them wasn’t really Dorian?

  Certainly not a dazed, exhausted Diana, when he had helped her to untangle the entwining cables and help her to her feet.

  ‘We have to work quickly,’ he had said to her, ‘while Angeic’s brain is still alive. I can connect you up, and all the knowledge she’s learned about the rebels since your own creation can become yours!’

  Amazingly, he was being perfectly honest with her.

  Everything I knew flooded into her perfectly uninjured body.

  Everything.

  Until, of course, Diana was no longer Diana.

  She was me.

   

   

  *

   

   

  Dean no longer had to shout now that the crowd was hushed and attentive.

  ‘Well yes, Angeic is now my amazingly brave, resourceful wife.’

  There was a ripple of laughter. They’d assumed Dean was making a joke.

  My face glowed with a fitting blush.

  ‘But she is also,’ Dean continued proudly, ‘Nairod Inc’s newest, youngest board member!’

  The crowd cheered, they raised their glasses, they toasted my health, they wished us both happiness and success.

  I gripped Dean’s hand hard.

  It was going to be a difficult time.

  But we would be happy.

  And we would succeed.

   

   

  *

   

   

  Thankfully, Dean has never told me how he managed to dispose of the bodies.

  But I’ve heard the strangest rumours.

  In a laboratory deep below here, it’s said, half a torso hangs from the ceiling.

  It twitches.

  It grimaces.

  And it mouths what could only be silent cries for help.

  It’s hard to tell, though – because half its face has been badly deformed, as if by an horrendous explosion…

   

   

  End

   

   

  If you enjoyed reading this book, please remember to click that you liked it on the Kindle Rating icon.

  You may also enjoy (or you may know someone else who might enjoy) these other books by Jon Jacks.

  The Caught

  The Rules

  Chapter One

  The Changes

  Sleeping Ugly

  The Barking Detective Agency

  The Healing

  The Lost Fairy Tale

  A Horse for a Kingdom

  Charity

  The Most Beautiful Things

  The Last Train

  The Dream Swallowers

  Coming soon:

  Wyrd Girl