Page 498 of Shadowblood Souls
Tucked into an armchair by the sitting room window, I let my gaze drift toward the glass again. And then jerk it back to the pages of my book to make sure I don’t look like I’m watching for something outside.
I’ve never been the type to leap into action quickly. Andreas used to tease me about always needing to think through every angle of a problem before I was confident tackling it.
But I’ve got to say that waiting on someone else to launch a plan you’ve already decided to go ahead with makes my top ten list of things I’d rather not experience again.
I know what I’m going to need to do. I’m the cornerstone in this plan.
I just have no ideawhenI’m going to need to do it—and I won’t know until minutes if not mere seconds beforehand.
Across the room, Riva stirs in her own chair with what I recognize as suppressed restlessness. I can only imagine howimpatient she’s getting when Balthazar might try to rope her further into the family business at any point.
We don’t know how long it’ll take Rollick to find our answering message. Or how much time it’ll take after that for him to rally whatever forces he’s bringing.
The fire he promised could arrive by daylight or in the middle of the night. His warning signal could be anything at all.
From what I’ve seen of the demon, I trust him to mean his offer of help honestly, but I’m also aware that fully “monstrous” minds operate on somewhat different terms from our partly human perspective as shadowbloods.
It’s only been two days. Two days of constant anticipation churning in my stomach and furtive glances between the six of us.
Footsteps in the hall draw my attention to the doorway with a hiccup of my pulse, but it’s just one of the members of the discreet household staff passing by. The woman doesn’t even look our way.
The sight of her reminds me of the other unknown variable in our plans.
Toni indicated that she’d help us with the problem of the manacles. She doesn’t know that there’s any deadline by which we’ll need that done, but then, we couldn’t tell her the exact timing even if we wanted to risk revealing more.
She has to realize that we’d want to leave as soon as possible. Every day, every hour we spend under the villa’s roof puts us in more danger.
Riva’s rejection upset Balthazar. There’s no telling what he’ll do next.
And we all know he has no qualms about spilling our blood.
Should we have made the urgency of our situation even more clear in our message to Rollick? Will the demon understand how important it is that he gets here as soon as possible?
We’re so restricted in this beautiful cage that it was hard to plan out our whole strategy thoroughly.
I realize that I’ve been staring at the same page for a couple of minutes without absorbing any of the words. I turn to the next just to put on a show of actually reading.
I lost track of the plot a few chapters ago. I can’t say I really care.
Movement beyond the window catches my eye with another lurch of my heart. But it’s nothing supernatural.
A couple of men in the blue uniforms Balthazar appears to have given all his staff are tramping across the grounds with a purposeful air. One of them holds what looks like… a very large aquarium net.
They’re walking in the direction of the pool.
I guess they’re going to clean it? But something about their demeanor sends a prickle of alarm through my nerves.
I set my book on the side table, stretch my arms and the tentacles I’ve kept coiled out of the way, and amble over to the door. There’s nothing unusual about one of us taking a stroll through the garden in the early afternoon.
Or more than one of us. Riva follows me, shooting me a quick smile as she catches up. “I could use a walk too, if you don’t mind the company.”
I take her hand in mine and sling one of my tentacles around her waist. “Of course not.”
There’s something amazing about the quiver of energy that unfurls between us now when she’s close—when I’m within a few feet of any of my friends too. The threads of essence connecting us on a level beyond sight.
We’re blood now in a way none of us ever imagined. So attuned to each other that in some ways we might as well be one joint being.
Balthazar can’t be prepared for our newfound unity. The knowledge brings a faint smile of my own to my lips despite my uneasiness.
