Page 100 of Shadows of the Soul

“Are you okay?” Hudson whispered.

I side-eyed him and nodded. The silver ring surrounding us pulsed with power. It was oppressive and squeezed my lungs.

My father observed us with a scowl as he placed his hands behind his back. “On balance, you have done more good than harm, daughter.” He looked pained to be saying this. “We,” he opened his arms and encompassed the circle of angels, “want you to be our weapon.”

I straightened in my chair and blinked. “No.”

“You haven’t heard me out.”

I stood and faced my father. “I don’t need to. I will not be used as a pawn any longer. Not for friends and not for family.”

He gazed down at me with a patient expression. “There’s a war coming.”

I tensed. “I know.”

“Perpetrated by your own grandmother.”

“I’m aware.”

“We can’t interfere with the disputes of humanity.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not. It’s totally beneath you.”

My father sighed. “No, Cora, it’s against the rules. But that doesn’t mean we can’t stack the deck.”

I shook my head. “No.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Fine, then you will answer for your crimes against Heaven.”

I scoffed. “You are blackmailing me with my life?”

His lips twitched. “If that’s how you want to see it.”

“Whose side?”

“What?”

“Whose side do you expect me to fight on? The supernatural community or the human one?”

“Neither and both. I want you to prevent it. Failing that, you will minimize loss of life on both sides.”

“Humans are no match for us,” Hudson inserted.

I glanced at him. Don’t make yourself part of this. “True, but their numbers outweigh ours ten to one. We have magic and strength. They have technology and weapons.”

“It will be a bloodbath,” my father agreed. “Unless there’s a voice of reason, someone to span the divide and conquer the fear of the unknown.”

I squeezed my eyes closed. I was a bed-and-breakfast owner with a supernatural medical side business. I was not a political hotshot with talent for calming the masses.

“I will help you,” Hudson stated, standing beside me.

I took a step away from him and held my hand out. He needed to distance himself from me. With everyone pulling my strings, I had a short lifespan and I wouldn’t be taking him down with me. “You ran at the first sign of political heat. What makes this any different?”

He pressed his lips into a tight line, and his eyebrows knitted together. “I made a mistake.”

Anger flared from deep within me. “As did I.”

Hudson’s fists tightened at his sides. “You’ve never done anything you regret? Something you think is right, that is protecting everyone—but in hindsight is wrong? Are you that self-righteous?”

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