Page 551 of Shadowblood Souls
“And they still are,” I say tersely. “Pitting two enemies against each other for our own gain isn’t that bizarre a tactic, is it?”
She cuts her gaze toward me. “How can we be sure that’s your real motivation? They created you. Maybe they’re still manipulatingyouto do their dirty work.”
Rollick raises his hands. “Come on now, friends. You might be wary of the shadowbloods, but you knowme. I’m monitoring the entire situation. I haven’t seen the slightest sign that my guests are doing anything other than working to protect all of us.”
Steel lets out a huff. “That doesn’t guarantee anything. They’ve got powers as strong as ours that work on us—including you.”
Another shadowkind steps into the middle of our cluster, his hands on his hips and his eyebrows arched in an amused expression. It’s Ruse, the incubus who’s particularly close to Sorsha.
“And our powers work on them,” he says in a languid tone. “Would you feel better if I used mine to confirm their intentions?”
Zian lets out a snort he unsuccessfully tries to muffle. “You’re going to seduce us into giving up any secrets we’ve got?”
Ruse laughs. “No, I don’t think any of you would appreciate that sort of tactic. One of the skills most cubi types possess is the ability to get a read on people’s internal states—not as detailed as outright reading your thoughts, but more than just your feelings. I’ll get an impression of future hopes, past context, that sort of thing. I can do a pretty thorough dive.”
Steel shifts on his feet. “And you’ll report what you find honestly?”
Ruse’s eyebrows lift even higher. “In case you’ve forgotten, I helped Sorsha take down the jackasses who were experimentingwith shadowkind since before these guardians even existed, while most of you all buried your heads in the shadows hoping the problem would go away before it ever affected you. So yes, I’ll announce it loud and clear if I see any indication that this bunch is going to conspire with our enemies against us.”
Shanty lifts her chin toward us. “If they’ll agree to it.”
Her voice holds an obvious challenge. My skin crawls at the idea of anyone rummaging around inside my head, digging deeper than even Griffin could, but refusing will obviously be seen as confirmation of their suspicions.
And it isn’t as if we do have anything to hide. Why not take this easy opportunity to show our true intentions?
I spread my arms and meet Ruse’s gaze. “Go right ahead. Hell, I’dwantto know if the guardians’ influence is still affecting us somehow in any way that could hurt the rest of you.”
My guys all gradually nod, though Jacob is scowling and Dominic’s forehead has furrowed pensively. We don’t know Ruse very well—but Sorsha obviously trusts him a lot, and she’s always spoken up for us. I don’t think he’d try to screw us over.
“All right.” Ruse rubs his hands together, looking way too enthusiastic about this test that could decide whether the shadowkind kick us out or stand behind us. Of course, that could just be because he’s sure we’ll pass it. “To make sure any worrisome reactions come out, why don’t you give me a hand, Mr. Metal Man? Give them each a threatening lunge, and we’ll see what that provokes.”
Steel aims a glower at the incubus over the impromptu nickname but moves forward. He pauses and then leaps toward me with a guttural roar.
My nerves jump, and my body jerks into a defensive stance instinctively. But as soon as he catches himself and pulls back a step, my heartbeat thumps back into its regular rhythm.
I didn’t even pick up on Ruse’s rifling through my mind. He grins at me. “Excellent. A healthy burst of self-preservation, a dollop of frustration at having to go through this ridiculous exercise, and no sign at all that you’d want to do our companion here harm even when he’s being an ass to you.”
Steel lets out a huff, but a little of the tension seeps out of his stance. “What about the bigger picture, not just in the moment.”
The incubus shrugs. “I’d assume that if there’s any latent hostility at all, I’d catch some hint of it when you’re overtly threatening the shadowbloods, don’t you? I didn’t get any impression that she’s looking forward to seeing you wiped out of existence.”
“Fine,” Shanty breaks in. “Are you going to check the others?”
Ruse looks as if he’s held himself back from rolling his eyes. “As soon as you’re ready to let me.”
Rollick stands back through the entire demonstration, as Steel and Ruse go through the same cycle with each of my guys. When Ruse declares the last of them free of ill intent, our host draws himself up straighter with a waft of his considerable power and peers over the gathered shadowkind.
“Are you all satisfied that these particular shadowbloods are workingwithus rather than against us?”
A ripple of murmurs passes through the group, varying from enthusiastic to reluctant agreement. Rollick waits a few beats to confirm there are no arguments and then motions for the crowd to clear the hallway. “Good. Then I don’t want to hear any more about it. We need to focus on tackling our real enemies, not sniping at each other.”
Most of the beings simply vanish back into the shadows. Shanty pauses and dips her head to me with a slight grimace. “I apologize for hassling you.”
She slips from view before I can even answer.
The guys gather closer around me, Andreas looping his arm around my waist and Griffin taking my hand. Their presence steadies me.
“Whatarewe going to do to tackle Balthazar now?” I ask Rollick. “We faked an attack on the guardians, but we don’t even know if they believe he was responsible. And we need to nudge them toward some response that’ll help us get to Balthazar as well as whatever they intend to do. Pearl hasn’t managed to steer them in a clear direction yet, has she?”
