Page 201 of Shadowblood Souls
Rollick chuckles. “It wouldn’t be a very effective solution to have you stumbling around drunk. I just want to see if having a little interference with your normal mental state might disrupt the connection.”
I raise the glass to my lips and gulp it down. The mix of sweet and sour flavors coat my tongue and send a pang through my gut.
Riva hesitates a few moments longer and then downs her own drink.
Only a faint tingle in the back of my skull suggests that I’ve got anything like a buzz. I could definitely handle operating on this incredibly mild level of tipsy for a while if it meant the guardians couldn’t track us.
“You know the drill,” Rollick says. “Riva, you leave this time. Andreas, you see if you can find her.”
Riva rises from her seat and slips out of the room without a word—or a glance at me. My throat constricts.
But I can already tell that the alcohol hasn’t dulled the bond between us even slightly. Her presence nibbles at my awareness from the spot on my sternum.
She’s turned left down the hall. She’s heading through a doorway into another room—I think that far down, it’d be the observation lounge.
I can sense her existence from under my skin, but I can’t touch her. Not anymore.
“It isn’t working,” I say without even bothering to get up. “I can feel her just as well as ever.”
Rollick rubs his chin. “I still think these marks and the connection between them could be the key. They’re something that’s specific to you shadowbloods.”
He gets up. “Well, let’s go collect her. Maybe I’ll think of another tactic to try along the way.”
The chef bustles out of the kitchen just then and sets a platter on the buffet table along the dining room wall. He seems to emerge every hour or two during the day with snacks, just in case anyone’s hungry.
Pearl and Billy, who’ve been hanging on our every move through Rollick’s tests, bound over to collect some of the delicate pastries on offer. I can’t summon any enthusiasm in myself, but I catch myself as I turn toward the door and go back to pluck a few to set on a plate.
Riva isn’t much of a dessert person, but I know she likes sour flavors, so she might appreciate this lemon tart. Or the mini-Danish topped with what looks like a blob of cranberry.
Rollick waits for me without remark.
“The observation room,” I tell him as I walk to rejoin him, our little fan club hustling along behind me.
When we reach the observation room with its tall windows that offer a view both above and below the ocean surface, Riva is lounging on one of the cushioned benches. In my first glimpse of her gazing at the watery landscape, she looks almost relaxed.
Almosthappy.
It’s a crime how seldom I’ve gotten to see her like that in the past few weeks. A crime that she hasn’t been able tobelike that very often in those weeks.
And the way her expression tightens when she sees me walk into the room, her momentary joy falling away, is an outright atrocity. One I committed.
The gift I’ve brought seems pathetic now, but I walk over to her anyway. “The chef brought out some pastries. I figured these were the ones you’d like the most.”
Riva takes the plate from me and sets it on the bench’s armrest. She considers it for a moment.
“I’m not really hungry,” she says in a slightly apologetic tone that I can’t say I deserve.
I give an awkward laugh. “It’s okay. I didn’t want you to go without in case you were.”
I haven’t even gotten a flicker of a smile out of her. Nothing like the soft curving of her lips when Pearl and Billy come rushing down the aisle between the benches.
Billy presses his hands to the window and gapes at the fish flitting by. “There are so many mortal creatures even down here.”
He did say he’d never been on a boat before. I guess he hadn’t made it down to this room yet.
Pearl turns toward Riva with a pop of her succubus hips that I suppose a guy might find appealing if his entire heart wasn’t tangled up with a different woman. “You like it in here, huh?”
Riva runs her fingers over the leather cushions. Her eyes widen as she glances around the room, awe brightening her face in a way that makes my pulse skip a beat.
