Page 504 of Shadowblood Souls
“Dad—wait!”
Thirty-Two
Riva
“Dad—wait!”
The words make me want to vomit even as I force them from my throat. But it’s the only thing I can think to say that might get Balthazar’s attention and divert him from his murderous goal.
I’ve never called anyone “Dad” before. And he—he won’t have heard that name addressed to him since his son died.
In the momentary silence, I catch Griffin’s empathic talent from him. Just for a few seconds, long enough to extend my awareness and trace the churn of emotions that matches the tone of Balthazar’s voice to some point I can’t distinctly define but can tell isn’t far away.
He’s here. Below the hill’s plateau with us. Maybe behind the other door we saw—the one that was locked?
I push a whiff of sentimentality toward the man before I release the ability back to Griffin. If I’m lucky, if Griffinunderstands what I’m aiming for, he’ll keep up the same strategy on my behalf.
No more rocks careen toward our heads. From the corner of my eye, I see Dominic relax slightly, getting a momentary reprieve from the need to project a telekinetic shield.
How long will that reprieve last?
Finally, Balthazar’s voice returns, warier but also less arrogant than before. “Do you have something to say to me, Riva?”
I pitch my voice to carry, not sure exactly how he’s hearing my response. Not letting myself care that the guys will all hear it perfectly clearly too.
“Please, let me come back. I was surprised before, and scared, but I don’t want to die like this. I never even got to really know you. Can you give me another chance?”
My voice wavers of its own accord. I’m genuinely scared—scared and desperate and not sure this attempt will even work… and hating that I’m trying out the tactic at all.
But I have to. I have to use every card in my hand.
Play along until we can escape. That was always the plan.
I just didn’t know how hard it’d be to take on the final role our captor could ask from me. The one he almost begged me to step into the last time we spoke.
You can stand beside me. We’ll work together and set things right. Don’t you see it?
“You said ‘me,’ not ‘we,’” Balthazar says in the present. “Are you asking only for yourself, then?”
“Would you let any of the guys come back with me?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
He chuckles. “I can’t trust any of them near me. I can’t even trustyou.”
But I’m the only one with his DNA woven into my body. His and his wife’s. The last living reminder of the woman I suppose he loved, in whatever warped way this psychopath is capable of.
I make my tone meek. “I know. I’ll do whatever you ask me to. Before… I didn’t know how to wrap my head around the idea of having a real family. I’m sorry I ran away from you.”
The man who’d call himself my father doesn’t really know me. If he did, he’d realize that I’d never really abandon my guys, not even to save my life.
My stomach churns around the lie. Oh please, let the guys remember my devotion to them like they didn’t when I was forced to leave them before.
Traces of wrenching fear waver through our bonds, but I don’t know if it’s for me or for themselves.
“What are you doing, Tink?” Andreas croaks, but I think I catch a flicker of a smile from him in the fading firelight. I want to believe he already knows the real answer to that question.
I pretend to ignore him. And also Griffin’s pleading, “Moonbeam?” which cuts me to the core even though if any of the guys can tell what’s going on inside me, it’s him.
Balthazar finally speaks. “Come along then. But don’t think I’ll be careless enough to give you an opening to hurt me.”
