Page 464 of Shadowblood Souls
The horrors we’re facing now are just one blip in the grand history of the world. Balthazar’s impact could end up being nothing more than a brief burst of static.
The beautiful things people have created can outlast a whole lot of trouble.
Andreas leads us on from the streets of towering buildings to a sprawling park. No flowers bloom in the gardens in the autumn chill, but impressive statues gaze down over the perfectly shaped hedges that form winding paths through the greenery.
We stop by a breathtaking fountain, taking in the water streaming over the carved stone. The rhythmic warbling settles some of the lingering jitters in my nerves.
Not many tourists are bothering with the park at this time of year. The sound of other voices fades as we venture deeper among the hedges.
Drey’s face brightens when he spots a sort of alcove formed between the hedges, like a dead end in a maze. A stone bench stands against the leafy wall.
He draws me down onto it and takes my other hand in his. A glint of mischief gleams in his eyes.
“I’ve been thinking… Our talents feel like a burden sometimes. Not something we’ve asked for—something the guardians forced on us so they could use us.”
“Something a whole lot of other people seem to want to use—or destroy,” I can’t help muttering.
“Yeah. But the powers aren’t just that. They’reourstoo. There are so many things we couldn’t have done for our own benefit if we hadn’t been made into what we are.”
I can’t really feel happy about any of the destruction I’ve caused with my hunger for pain. On the other hand, I am glad I could cast out my shriek to save us when I’ve needed to.
And my strength and speed have given me moments of exhilaration I wouldn’t have gotten any other way. I like the power that runs through my muscles when I flex them.
In my silent contemplation, Andreas gives my hands a little squeeze. “How would you like to experience one more thing no one else in this city could get to?”
I raise an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”
Rather than an answer in words, a tingle glides over my skin, from my hands up my arms and then racing all through my body.
Before my eyes, Andreas fades from view. But not just him. When my gaze jerks to our twined hands where I can still feel the pressure of his grasp, I’ve vanished too.
I can see right through the spot where our joined hands should be to the bench my no-longer-visible legs are braced against.
Andreas releases one of my hands, and I wave it toward the hedge next to us. I can’t see anything but the dense leaves, but they tickle against my arm when I brush it right against them.
An elderly couple strolls by our alcove, glancing into it with bland expressions that show they don’t see us at all. My pulse leaps with a giddy hiccup.
“It isn’t much,” Andreas says in a low voice. “It’s only a temporary disappearance. But it means I can do this right here, and no one’s going to stop us.”
His fingers trace the line of my jaw, and he guides my mouth to his.
When I close my eyes, there’s nothing different about the embrace at all. Andreas is here with me in every way that matters.
The only difference is we don’t have to worry about anyone seeing us and judging our PDA.
Because we’re shadowbloods. We’respecial.
Even if I hate what the guardians put us through, even if sometimes I hate what they turned us into… thereissomething amazing about our existence too. Only six of us humans in the entire world with powers strong enough to rival actual monsters.
And those powers don’t have to be used just for fighting.
The shadows in my veins shiver and flare. My longing for the guy in my arms grows with every second of our kiss, every stroke of his hand from my shoulder to my hip and back again.
It’s never been as urgent as it was back when we first collided, when the smoky essence inside us wound together to form our matching marks. But I know that part of me will always call out to part of him, recognizing him as my own.
We’re blood.
I kiss him harder, looping my arm around his neck. A pang of hunger radiates from between my thighs.
