Page 514 of Shadowblood Souls
“Youhave already shown yourself around Balthazar’s people,” Rollick reminds her, but he strides after her as we do. “When we don’t want to give them any hint of where their escapees have gone, caution matters more than fashion.”
He’s kept his tone light, but I think I catch a hint of tension in his words. Balthazar managed to breach even the demon’s defenses—stealing a laptop from his hotel back in Miami while Rollick was distracted with his rescue efforts.
The laptop may have been the key to Balthazar perfecting his process for creating new shadowbloods. But I can’t blame Rollick for losing it. I’m the one who told Balthazar where it was, not realizing how big a mistake that would be at the time.
We emerge from the trees and cross the lawn to the broad wrought-iron patio table that’s painted white to match the walls of the sprawling mansion beyond it. The building’s arched colonnades and clay-tiled roof give it a traditional flair, but its overall vibe is modern enough that it doesn’t stir up bad associations with the old Italian villa where Balthazar had us trapped.
Pearl upends the sack over the table, sending a deluge of fabric across the white surface. The guys and I gather around to paw through the offerings.
I’ve just dug out a hoodie that’s a size too big but otherwise looks appealingly cozy and a pair of jeans that I think should fit when Pearl makes a small, tight noise in her throat. I glance up to see her gazing toward the house.
Three figures have just emerged. Sorsha—the only human-shadowkind hybrid we know of who wasn’t created by the guardians, who has the fiery powers of a phoenix—and a roguish shadowkind man named Ruse flank a tall, wiry woman whose sleek black bob is unusually ruffled.
Toni. They’re finally letting her come talk to us again.
All thoughts of the new clothes flee my head. I have just enough self-control to walk around the table rather than leaping right over it.
Sorsha and Ruse escort Toni all the way to us. Sorsha tips her head with a swing of her bright red ponytail. “We’re confident that she’s being honest about her intentions. I think you can trust her.”
Rollick folds his arms over his chest. “Let’s hear what Balthazar’s minion has to say, then.”
Toni’s lips tighten in a faint grimace at being called a minion, but I don’t see any emotion in her dark eyes other than sadness. She reaches into the pocket of her slacks. “Before we get into anything else—when I snuck into Mr. Balthazar’s office to turn off your bracelets, I saw this. I think it’s yours, Riva?”
She holds out a silver chain dangling a charm of a cat curled around a ball of yarn. My pulse hiccups in surprise and relief.
I dart forward to take it from her. “Thank you. I didn’t know what he’d done with it.”
The necklace, given to me by Griffin years ago, has been missing since I first woke up in Balthazar’s villa.
As I fasten the chain around my neck, Jacob fixes his sky-blue eyes on Toni in an icy stare. “Are you going to tell us why the hell you worked for that psychopath at all?”
Toni ducks her head, her shoulders hunching slightly. “I’ll do my best to explain, but I don’t expect you to necessarily understand. I know I didn’t always make the best decisions. I’m trying to fix that now.”
“Go ahead,” Griffin says, his peaceful attitude as different from Jacob’s as their looks are similar. “We’ll listen.”
She drags in a breath and lifts her gaze to face us properly. “I’ve been working for Otto Balthazar for fifteen years now. When I was in college, studying business management, I had an unpleasant encounter with a—with one of the things you call shadowkind—and of course no one believed me when I tried to explain what happened. But Mr. Balthazar heard about it and came to talk to me. He was still working with the Guardianship then.”
I raise my eyebrows. “And he decided to hire you?”
Toni gives a small shrug. “I was doing well with my education. He was starting to think about branching out more independently with his… unofficial business. And I can’t imagine that it’s easy to find people who both know about shadowkind and have the right skillset. It made it easier for him, not having to hide what he was pursuing.”
Dominic smooths his hands over a shirt he’s picked out from Pearl’s loot, his attention trained on Toni. “What exactly did he ask you to do for him?”
“I managed everything thatwasn’tpart of his public business ventures: his work with the Guardianship, his individual efforts against the shadowkind, various things to do with his personal life. Mr. Balthazar had a lot going on. He needed someone to keep everything in order, to delegate what was needed, and to alert him to any problems.”
My hands tighten around the hoodie I’m still clutching. “And you did all that for him.”
“Yes,” Toni says. “For him and his family.”
For a moment, as she looks at me, a shimmer comes into her eyes that looks almost like tears. Her jaw works before she goes on.
“I was around a lot. I became close with his wife—Willa—and to some extent with his son. Peter was only seven when I met him, so it wasn’t like we had a lot in common, but he was a good kid. Willa accepted me like I’d been there from the start. She had this way about her… She just emanated warmth. I’ve never met anyone else like her. Mr. Balthazar was steadier back then, but he had moments of frustration, and she could always talk him down.”
Griffin is studying her intently. “And you loved her.”
The flare of a blush that colors Toni’s tan cheeks tells the answer even if she doesn’t admit it outright. “She loved her husband. I don’t think she was interested in women like that anyway. I just liked getting to be around her. That was enough.”
As she pauses to gather herself, I have to stop myself from gaping. It never occurred to me that this woman’s deepest loyalty might not be to her former employer but to his wife.
