Page 564 of Shadowblood Souls
As we get out of the car outside the mansion, I touch her arm. “Nothing huge is going to change in the next half hour. Meet me in the lounge room with the fireplace?”
Riva knits her brow, but after she meets my hopeful gaze, she nods. I’ve realized one of the benefits of not asking much of her is that she understands how important it must be when I do ask for something.
The other guys glance at me with obvious curiosity, but I put them off with a subtle shake of my head. I don’t think she needs a crowd hovering around her right now.
There are a few things I’ve proven I’m good at with her all on my own.
I take a quick detour to the mansion’s massive kitchen and walk into the lounge carrying a tall stack of sandwich-size plates—with nothing on them. Riva takes one look at me and laughs. “You were so hungry you forgot to add the food?”
I join her by the fireplace, set the plates down in front of us, and give her a gentle nudge with my elbow. “Things have been kind of shitty. I thought you might feel like breaking something.”
Understanding lights in her bright eyes. When she was at her worst in her helpless rage at Balthazar, we flung flowerpots off the side of the hill.
It helped then, and I can already see the idea loosening the tension in her now. She exhales shakily, like a ragged release,and grins at me. “And Rollick won’t mind us destroying his dishes?”
The corner of my mouth crooks upward. “I already got his permission, as long as I clean up the mess afterward. He had this stack set out for us.”
There’s nothing in the broad, stone-lined fireplace right now except for a smattering of ashes left by the last actual fire lit here. I tug the protective grate to the side and heft a plate, but I let Riva take the first shot.
Her fingers clench around the smooth china. She glares at the blackened stones. “That fucking asshole screwed the kids up even more than they already were.”
She flings the plate. It smashes against the stones at the back of the fireplace with a satisfyingcrack.
As the pieces rain down into the ashes, I ready my own. “I wish I could have pummeled him for twice as long while he could still feel it, just for that.”
Bam. Bam.Bam.
We hurl plate after plate into the fireplace, muttering our frustrations and then simply pouring them all into the jerk of our arms. With each throw, a little more tension seeps out of Riva’s expression.
She lobs the last plate with a little battle cry. We stare at the heap of broken shards for a moment before I will the heat into my eyes to char all that pottery into dust.
Then Riva spins toward me and wraps her arms around my chest.
My pulse hitches with pleasure just at the knowledge that she feels comfortable enough to hug me without hesitation now. That I’ve shown her she’s earned that comfort.
My happiness swells more at her words, muffled in my shirt. “Thank you. I needed that.”
I scoop up her small frame easily and sit us both in the nearest armchair. Nothing could feel as good as having the woman I love cuddle deeper into my embrace as easily as breathing.
I lower my head over hers, drinking in the crisply sweet scent of her hair. “We’ll fix this. There’s got to be a way.” Even if I’ve got no clue what that is at the moment.
Riva grimaces. “I know Balthazar’s gone, and everyone important in the Guardianship probably is too. But everything still feels so messed up, and I don’t know how to help the other shadowbloods. They don’twantto be helped.”
“They haven’t had much time to really think about it,” I point out.
“But they’re stuck with the criminals Balthazar picked out. Who knows what those jerks are going to be telling them?” She rubs her forehead. “They’re just kids. They shouldn’t have to deal with any of this crap.”
“I know.” From the moment Riva found out the younger shadowbloods existed, she’s always cared so much about looking after them. Wanting to save them from having to go through as much torture as we did.
Even with all the crap the guardians did put us through, they couldn’t stop her from knowing instinctively how to act like a big sister. Or even…
The stray thought wriggles through my brain and sends a strange sensation that’s both giddy and terrified washing over me. I stroke my hand up and down Riva’s arm from shoulder to elbow, but the idea doesn’t drift away. It only grips me harder.
I hesitate and hug her tighter. Riva glances up at me as if sensing there’s something I’m grappling with.
I might as well spit it out. If she laughs or recoils, well, then I’ll know.
“Do you think… I mean, we don’t even know if it’s possible for us… but way down the road, when everything is okay and we have regular lives… would you want to make the family the six of us have a little bigger?”
