Page 525 of Shadowblood Souls
Riva raises her eyebrows at me. “Are you okay? She always seems to mean well, even if she can be a bit over-the-top about it.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” I run my hand through my hair, hoping I don’t look half as unbalanced as I feel. “It was fine.”
With Riva right in front of me after the conversation I just had, I can’t help thinking back to that evening when we hooked up. All those thrilling sensations now paired with the idea that some part of my body was trying to get her?—
I can’t even think it. Fucking hell, I only just managed to get that close with her at all—one time, with Dominic there in case my instincts went haywire.
Whether it’s possible for us to have kids, whether it’s something we’d want to try for down the road, is so far outside my ability to imagine that it just about short-circuits my brain.
But Riva knows me well enough not to push. She just sidles over, gratifyingly near but not enough to make my nerves jump, and gingerly tucks her hand around mine, reminding me of why I love her so much.
Whatever futures we could dream of, she’s always been willing to wait for me.
Twining her fingers with mine, she traces her other hand over the ridges marked on the map. “He came back again. If we’re going to take him down anywhere, it’ll be here.”
Six
Riva
By the time we’ve finished one final extended planning session around the dining table, a dull ache has formed behind my forehead. It’s only late afternoon, the sunlight turning amber beyond the windows, but I feel as if I’ve been up for days.
Rollick stands first with a brisk swipe of his hands. “We’ll see if that last associate of mine can make it here to smooth along our plans overnight. Either way, we head over to stake out the fortress first thing in the morning. Get plenty of sleep, those of you who need it.”
I push back my chair and pull out the phone he gave me. I haven’t used it for much so far other than checking the news, which is what I pull up now.
At the headlines that appear on the screen, my pulse stutters. Dominic catches my expression and leans close. “What’s wrong?”
I swallow thickly. “Three more attacks. Paris, Toronto, and Singapore. At least a dozen dead and tons more injured from all of them.”
Andreas sidles over, slipping his hand around my elbow. “Has anyone looked into Balthazar yet?”
I tap in a search and bite my lip as I scan the results. “It doesn’t look like it. Maybe the guy I gave his name to didn’t hear me properly. Or maybe he didn’t even listen, he was so sure we were part of the problem.”
Jacob joins our huddle, his mouth twisting with a scowl. “We should tell them again. Email all the news stations what we know.”
“I don’t think they’d believe it.” I flick through more articles. “They’re still talking as if there aren’t real ‘monsters,’ only some terrorist group that’s using it as a moniker with special effects to make them seem supernatural.”
One of the shadowkind women has picked up on our conversation. Her head jerks toward us, and she rubs the bark-like skin on her forearms. “We want it to stay that way. You can’t tell them about shadowkind. It’s bad enough when any mortals get it into their head to come after us.”
“I don’t think we need to worry about that,” Rollick says smoothly, inserting himself into our midst. “I’ve learned to never underestimate the human capacity for pretending away things they’d rather not accept.”
He fixes his gaze on me. “I have a little more work for you to do before you get your rest for the night.”
Even though I groan at the thought, I straighten my posture, wanting to put on a good front for the watching shadowkind. I know plenty of them are still skeptical about acceptingusinto their community.
We’ve got to show we’re pulling our own weight, fighting our own battles.
“What’s that?” I ask.
The demon motions for me to follow him. “Better done in private. But your three boyfriends here can come along too. They’ll make a good selection.” He pauses, glancing at Dominic. “And we may need that healing power. I’ve got a room with a few potted plants.”
Dominic gives him a tight smile. “That’s all I need.”
The guys and I tramp after Rollick through the gleaming halls of his mansion and into a small sitting room. Well, small by the mansion’s standards—it’s still several times bigger than the cell I was confined in back in the guardians’ facility.
The room holds a loveseat and a couple of chairs, a secretary desk, and a small patio-style table. It feels like the kind of space where people might come to eat breakfast or sip tea while gazing out at the view over the grounds outside. There are, as Rollick promised, a few large, leafy plants rising from pots along the wall.
There are also two shadowkind men standing by the loveseat—men I know are among Rollick’s closest associates but haven’t had much of a chance to talk to outside of our strategizing sessions.
