Page 410 of Shadowblood Souls
I’m not going to admit how much I’d rather have Zee by my side while I did, not in front of Balthazar’s lackey.
When Toni gestures toward the house again, impatiently now, I shoot Booker and Nadia an apologetic glance and follow her. Maybe Balthazar will have more answers for me than his employee was willing to offer.
She leads me back to the drawing room where Dominic lies in his eerily still slumber. My feet drag for a moment on the mosaic floor while my gaze lingers on him, my stomach twisting tighter.
Toni nudges me on toward the table that’s already lifted to reveal the TV screen. She must make some signal I can’t see, or maybe Balthazar is watching from a camera, because the moment I’ve come to a stop in front of the TV, his image blinks onto it.
“Riva,” he says without preamble, fixing his predatory gaze on me. “I have a few questions for you.”
My skin twitches with discomfort. “I have a few for you too. Why is there a shadowkind man hanging out around your house? Or a monster, if you call him that?”
Balthazar’s expression turns baleful. “I see no reason to justify the type of people I employ to you. But it is?—”
“It matters,” I break in, glowering at him. “I thought the guardians wanted to slaughter all the ‘monsters.’ Isn’t that the whole reason you made us?”
For a moment, Balthazar simply blinks at me—slowly, as if sizing me up for dinner. “I’ve told you already, I have no current association with the Guardianship. But I want to hear about one of their founders. You and your friends broke into Ursula Engel’s house.”
My hands ball at my sides, but it’s obvious he isn’t going to say more about the shadowkind man. He did confirm that he considers him an employee, though.
It doesn’t make any sense.
I keep my answer short, because he obviously already knows andIsee no reason to give him unnecessary details. “We did.”
“I believe you left her home with at least a few items that belonged to her.”
I gaze steadily back at him, unspeaking. If he wants an answer from me, he can ask a fucking question.
Balthazar shakes back his graying mane without breaking eye contact. “What happened to Engel’s computer?”
Her laptop? My mind darts automatically through the memories of the first few days after the bloodbath at her house—the first time my guys saw my full powers in action.
We never found anything all that interesting on the computer. Hints about the later generations of shadowbloods, yes, but few definite facts.
Of course, a lot of the data was transcribed in a code none of us knew how to break.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly.
Balthazar’s mouth tenses with a scowl. “Did you dispose of it somewhere?”
“No.” Inspiration sparks in my chest, and I jump on the chance before thinking it through. Before taking long enough that our captor might realize it’s a strategy rather than an answer. “We carried it with us the whole time. Until Clancy’s people caught us again.”
“You brought it into the facility with you when you attempted to break out the shadowbloods there?”
This time, I hesitate on purpose. I want him to think I’m avoiding telling him the truth.
Balthazar narrows his eyes at me. “Riva, you know the consequences of defying me.”
I do. I swallow thickly and glance toward Dominic, only partly for show.
When I answer, I keep my voice quiet, as if I’d rather not say it at all. “No. Our packs were in the vehicles we came in.”
“The vehicles the monsters you worked with brought you in.”
“Yes,” I bite out, noting as I do that whether he employs the shadowkind or not, he does still call them monsters like the rest of the guardians do.
He rubs his chin. “Then it stands to reason that they’d still have it.”
I shrug. “Iftheydidn’t throw it out. Maybe Rollick took it back to his stupid hotel.”
