Page 432 of Shadowblood Souls
Nothing clicks into place. I scowl and peer at the photo even more intently.
And that’s when I notice there are four figures in the image.
The family is standing in front of a stretch of lush forest, probably a park somewhere. And in the background off to the side, slightly blurred but still recognizable, stands a tall, wiry woman with sleek black hair and a square jaw.
Toni’s hair is a little longer in the picture, down to her shoulders rather than her current chin-length bob, and there’s more youthful softness to her features. But that’s definitely her.
So, she’s been working with him for a while now—at least since whenever this photo was taken. She’s met his family.
I set the picture back on the dresser, the wheels turning in my head. That’s something we didn’t know before.
Now how can I use it to bring Balthazar down?
Twelve
Riva
Icome out of my bedroom the next morning on my way to breakfast and find Toni standing in the hall just outside my door as if she’s waiting for me.
As I jerk to a stop, my pulse hitches. Did she somehow realize what I got up to last night?
Has she come to deliver some horrible new punishment?
She simply tilts her head toward the end of the hall with a swing of her bobbed hair. “Mr. Balthazar wants to speak with you.”
I guess it’d be a little much to expect even a “Good morning” from one of his close associates.
My hands rise to fidget with the deadly manacles around my wrists. I push myself to follow her, my nerves prickling.
What does the psychopath want with me now? Can I get anything out of him that will helpmygoals?
How much longer will it be until I can splatter his blood all over the villa’s walls?
As the familiar anger sears through my limbs, I glance at the woman beside me. The sight of her square jaw and the firm line of her lips above it reminds me of the photo I stumbled on last night.
What can I get fromher? She must know all kinds of things about her boss.
She’s been working with him for a long time—she’s stuck with him through all the horrors he’s carrying out. She can’t be totally unaffected, right?
Even if whatever she does feel about the situation is in favor of his methods.
“Is it really worth risking your life for this jerk?” I ask abruptly. Surprise seems more likely to get me an unusual reaction than being coy about the subject.
Toni stops and turns toward me with a slight arch of one eyebrow. “Risking my life?”
I fold my arms over my chest, gazing steadily back at her. “I could kill you right now if I wanted to. Before these bracelets could stop me. He’strainingme to kill as fast as possible. And I’m not the only one here who could.” Or who’d want to, although spelling out our desire for vengeance feels unwise.
Toni’s expression doesn’t even twitch. Her tone stays mild. “I don’t think you will, though. You know the others would suffer for it. Balthazar would be awfully angry. Who’s to say whether they’d all even survive?”
My jaw clenches despite my intention of staying cool and calm. I temper my voice. “You’re so sure he’d care that much? He might be pissed off that we destroyed one of his tools, but I haven’t seen any reason to believe you’re any more of a person to him than we are.”
One corner of Toni’s mouth curves upward—just a tad, but enough to notice. She thinks the point I just made is fuckingfunny.
“You don’t know very much, kid,” she says dryly. “I would focus more on keeping yourself safe than on threatening me.”
Before she can start walking again, I snatch at another tactic. “And how much does his wife know? Or his son? Are they oh-so-happy that their?—”
I haven’t even finished hurling the questions at her when an emotion I can’t identify blazes in her eyes. “You know nothing about that either,” she snaps, cutting me off. “You’ve got no idea what family even means, lab rat.”
