Page 200 of Shadowblood Souls
“Well, you may be able to do the former with some training. And we can die too, just with a fair bit of difficulty.” Rollick offers us a crooked smile.
“So, they’re… jealous of us?” I ask, still trying to wrap my head around where the resentment is coming from.
Rollick chuckles. “Maybe a little. But it’s more that you’re a threat. Past hybrids have proven difficult to control, as you yourselves are finding with your abilities. We don’t know how destructive you might become—toward us, or toward mortals, which will draw attention to the rest of us.”
Pearl nods, her voice dropping to an awed whisper. “They say the last hybrid nearly burned up the whole planet.”
My jaw goes slack. “What?”
As my gaze slides to the grim figures watching at the other side of the deck, my spirits sink.
No wonder they’re so hostile. No wonder we’ve seen signs of fear from even the powerful shadowkind.
We’re an unknown quantity, and one that could screw them up and screw them over in ways they can’t even prepare for.
We’re lucky Rollick is sticking his neck out even this much.
My next question tumbles out, propelled by a sudden chill. “What do the others want you to do with us? Do they think you should killustoo?”
Rollick snorts. “Don’t worry about that.Ican see that you’re not on the verge of burning up the whole world or anything socatastrophic.” He gives me a meaningful look. “At least, as long as you give those powers more practice to make sure you have a grip on them.”
As I squirm internally at his insinuation, he rubs his hands together. “In any case, Torrent has set off through the waters to head back to land. He’ll make some inquiries along with other associates of mine to see if we can’t track down these facilities your guardians are running.”
Zian perks up. “We’re going to go rescue the other shadowbloods?”
“We’re going to see if that’s a feasible course of action.”
I should feel victorious. That was my idea, and Rollick is actually pursuing it.
But I can’t shake the uneasy weight the conversation has placed on my shoulders.
He didn’t say that the other shadowkinddon’twant us dead, only that we shouldn’t worry they’ll succeed in making it happen.
Is he the only thing standing between us and a total slaughter?
If the humans who made us think we’re too dangerous to exist, and the shadowkind they’ve fought against feel the same way… where can we possibly belong?
Monsters exist, sure. And it turns out my guys and I are the only thing the monsters are scared of.
Twenty
Andreas
Rollick motions to the glasses in front of us. “All right, drink up!”
Across the small, glossy table from me, Riva studies the amber liquid. Her mouth slants at an uncertain angle.
I can’t help remembering the only other time she’s drunk anything alcoholic since we got out of the facility: that night at the dance club when a single cocktail went haywire with the poison Jacob had inflicted on her.
That was the night she pointed out her scars to me and told me how often she’d taken comfort in knowing we were still out there. When she asked me to dance and looked so downcast when I refused.
When she pulled me into a hug I couldn’t resist, and I got to experience the full, unrestrained bliss of her embrace.
I should have known for sure then. Hell, I should have known from the start that she was telling the truth.
But instead I treated her like an enemy, schemed against her, and now here we are. Even if we didn’t have a table standing between us, there’d be an invisible wall dividing us that I can’t climb over.
I curl my fingers around my own glass. “It’s weak stuff, right?”
