Page 85 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

Twenty

Andreas

R ollick motions to the glasses in front of us. “All right, drink up!”

Across the small, glossy table from me, Riva studies the amber liquid. Her mouth slants at an uncertain angle.

I can’t help remembering the only other time she’s drunk anything alcoholic since we got out of the facility: that night at the dance club when a single cocktail went haywire with the poison Jacob had inflicted on her.

That was the night she pointed out her scars to me and told me how often she’d taken comfort in knowing we were still out there. When she asked me to dance and looked so downcast when I refused.

When she pulled me into a hug I couldn’t resist, and I got to experience the full, unrestrained bliss of her embrace.

I should have known for sure then. Hell, I should have known from the start that she was telling the truth.

But instead I treated her like an enemy, schemed against her, and now here we are. Even if we didn’t have a table standing between us, there’d be an invisible wall dividing us that I can’t climb over.

I curl my fingers around my own glass. “It’s weak stuff, right?”

Rollick chuckles. “It wouldn’t be a very effective solution to have you stumbling around drunk. I just want to see if having a little interference with your normal mental state might disrupt the connection.”

I raise the glass to my lips and gulp it down. The mix of sweet and sour flavors coat my tongue and send a pang through my gut.

Riva hesitates a few moments longer and then downs her own drink.

Only a faint tingle in the back of my skull suggests that I’ve got anything like a buzz. I could definitely handle operating on this incredibly mild level of tipsy for a while if it meant the guardians couldn’t track us.

“You know the drill,” Rollick says. “Riva, you leave this time. Andreas, you see if you can find her.”

Riva rises from her seat and slips out of the room without a word—or a glance at me. My throat constricts.

But I can already tell that the alcohol hasn’t dulled the bond between us even slightly. Her presence nibbles at my awareness from the spot on my sternum.

She’s turned left down the hall. She’s heading through a doorway into another room—I think that far down, it’d be the observation lounge.

I can sense her existence from under my skin, but I can’t touch her. Not anymore.

“It isn’t working,” I say without even bothering to get up. “I can feel her just as well as ever.”

Rollick rubs his chin. “I still think these marks and the connection between them could be the key. They’re something that’s specific to you shadowbloods.”

He gets up. “Well, let’s go collect her. Maybe I’ll think of another tactic to try along the way.”

The chef bustles out of the kitchen just then and sets a platter on the buffet table along the dining room wall. He seems to emerge every hour or two during the day with snacks, just in case anyone’s hungry.

Pearl and Billy, who’ve been hanging on our every move through Rollick’s tests, bound over to collect some of the delicate pastries on offer. I can’t summon any enthusiasm in myself, but I catch myself as I turn toward the door and go back to pluck a few to set on a plate.

Riva isn’t much of a dessert person, but I know she likes sour flavors, so she might appreciate this lemon tart. Or the mini-Danish topped with what looks like a blob of cranberry.

Rollick waits for me without remark.

“The observation room,” I tell him as I walk to rejoin him, our little fan club hustling along behind me.

When we reach the observation room with its tall windows that offer a view both above and below the ocean surface, Riva is lounging on one of the cushioned benches. In my first glimpse of her gazing at the watery landscape, she looks almost relaxed.

Almost happy .

It’s a crime how seldom I’ve gotten to see her like that in the past few weeks. A crime that she hasn’t been able to be like that very often in those weeks.

And the way her expression tightens when she sees me walk into the room, her momentary joy falling away, is an outright atrocity. One I committed.

The gift I’ve brought seems pathetic now, but I walk over to her anyway. “The chef brought out some pastries. I figured these were the ones you’d like the most.”

Riva takes the plate from me and sets it on the bench’s armrest. She considers it for a moment.

“I’m not really hungry,” she says in a slightly apologetic tone that I can’t say I deserve.

I give an awkward laugh. “It’s okay. I didn’t want you to go without in case you were.”

I haven’t even gotten a flicker of a smile out of her. Nothing like the soft curving of her lips when Pearl and Billy come rushing down the aisle between the benches.

Billy presses his hands to the window and gapes at the fish flitting by. “There are so many mortal creatures even down here.”

He did say he’d never been on a boat before. I guess he hadn’t made it down to this room yet.

Pearl turns toward Riva with a pop of her succubus hips that I suppose a guy might find appealing if his entire heart wasn’t tangled up with a different woman. “You like it in here, huh?”

Riva runs her fingers over the leather cushions. Her eyes widen as she glances around the room, awe brightening her face in a way that makes my pulse skip a beat.

“I like the whole ship. It’s incredible… I feel like I’ve stepped into a movie or a TV show.”

“Much better than underground prison cells, I’m sure,” Rollick says with a grin. “Well, you can enjoy it at your leisure for a little while. I haven’t come up with any brilliant new brainstorms quite yet.”

Riva hesitates, and I can feel her—partly in her body language, but maybe I pick up a fragment of her emotions through our connection too—weighing her options. Deciding whether she’d rather stay here and watch the ocean life when I’m in the same room or go someplace where I’m not around.

An uncomfortable heat prickles up my neck. I open my mouth to say I’m heading back to my room, but before I can get any words out, she’s already sprung to her feet.

“Speaking of TV, I haven’t gotten to do any real channel surfing for most of my life, so I think I’ll keep catching up on that.”

She shoots another smile at the shadowkind around us, not quite aiming it at me, and slips away.

I watch her vanish through the doorway, my stomach clenching. When I tear my gaze away, Rollick is watching me .

“It can be rather difficult to win over a woman who sees you as a villain,” he says in a mildly wry tone. “But it’s not impossible. I know from personal experience.”

Somehow I don’t think the supernaturally handsome demon in front of me has faced quite the same challenges that I have with whatever love life he carries out, but I’ll take the sympathy at face value anyway.

I exhale roughly. “It’s my own fault. I just don’t know how to make it up to her.”

I don’t know if I even can.

Rollick ambles toward the doorway. “I can’t say it’s a swift process or an easy one. You might have to reveal things about yourself that you’re used to hiding. But if it’s worth it, it’s worth it.”

As he heads off to who-knows-where, Pearl sashays over to me. “Maybe I can help! This boat has everything . There’s got to be something around that would impress her.”

I don’t think impressing Riva is the key, but who knows? Maybe the succubus’s cheerful commentary will jostle loose some brilliant brainstorm of my own.

Relationships are her specialty, after all. Well, a certain type, at least.

“All right,” I say. “Let’s see if I’ve missed anything.”

We amble through the halls, making a circuit of the ship’s many common rooms. Pearl natters on about Riva’s eating habits—“I heard her ask if we have any extra lemons!”—and her disinterest in the library—“I don’t blame her; words are a lot more boring than being someplace.”

There’s a spa area I hadn’t stumbled on before, but I can’t see Riva letting me pamper her in any way that involves putting my hands on her body.

We step into the party room where someone has lowered a mirror ball from the ceiling, and Pearl sets her hands on her hips. “Too bad she isn’t much of a party girl.”

The comment sets off an automatic twinge of defiance in me. “Actually, she really likes music and dancing,” I say. “But that could come with some bad memories too…”

I pause, gazing at the expansive room in front of me. An image floats up in the back of my mind of Riva’s face rapt with awe like it was in the observation lounge—but years ago, tucked next of Griffin on the training-room sofa.

I feel like I’ve stepped into a movie or a TV show , she said today. And days ago, in the hotel room, she admitted to how much she loved that frothy soap opera Griffin would always arrange to put on for her.

The guys on that show were always screwing up and begging forgiveness. Maybe I can learn something from them.

The idea hits me in a bolt of inspiration, sizzling through my mind and knocking every other thought out of my head.

That could be perfect. It would be hard to pull off, and maybe it wouldn’t do the trick, but I know her. I know?—

Something inside me balks. Is that really the right direction?

If I pick something that personal, that specific to her—will she wonder if I’ve peeked inside her head with my talent? Invaded her privacy?

I swallow thickly, wavering between exhilaration and doubt.

Rollick said I might have to reveal things rather than hide them.

Riva knows I observe people all the time, that I remember all kinds of things about them. And doting on her in all the generic ways I can think of hasn’t gotten me anywhere.

I have to try, don’t I? I can’t really fuck up any worse than I already have.

A little trepidation lingers, because I know it’s not just her I’m going to have to win over but the other guys as well. First, though, I need to make sure my idea is possible to begin with.

“I think I’ve got something,” I say to Pearl. “Do you have any idea where Rollick is?”

Her eyes flash with excitement. “I can find him!”

The next second, she’s leapt into the shadows.

Billy, who’s trailed behind us simply taking in the conversation, peers around the party room. “You’re going to try to make Riva happy?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s a little more complicated than that, but… basically.”

He offers me a small but genuine smile. “I don’t know much about mortal parties, but I do know music. If you need any help. It comes with the whole faun thing.” He motions to his horns.

An unexpected flicker of friendly warmth passes through me. I don’t totally trust the shadowkind, but I’ll take them over the guardians any day.

“Thanks,” I say. “Let me think about this—if I can even get this idea off the ground.”

Pearl hasn’t returned yet, so I venture down the hall, not sure where I should head now. But I’ve only made it past a few doorways before the succubus blinks back into sight—with the demon right beside her.

Rollick arches his eyebrows. “Apparently there’s some incredibly urgent matter you need to speak to me about.”

I wince inwardly. “Sorry. It’s not that urgent. But, since you’re here now… Would you let me use the party room for something tomorrow night? And I’d need some supplies. I don’t know how easy that’ll be while we’re at sea.”

“I was already planning on docking tomorrow morning, just briefly, for other reasons. Give me a list, and there’s very little I can’t obtain. And I have no plans for any parties, so the room is up for grabs.”

My heart leaps with more hope than I’ve felt in ages. “Great. Thank you. I’ll get on with making that list.”

“This is about Riva?” he asks.

I hesitate. “Is that a problem?”

The demon aims a crooked grin at me. “Not at all. I happen to think it’s better for all of us if your little banshee-of-sorts found herself some more peace. See what you can do about that all you like.”

He vanishes, leaving me with an uneasy knot in my gut. Why does he think it’s better for everyone ?

But then, he does seem to enjoy making vaguely ominous comments for his own amusement.

I hurry toward the residential quarters, my nerves twanging with both eagerness and uncertainty. The sound of voices from the games room draws me up short.

The other three guys are gathered around the pool table there, Jacob motioning from the cue ball to one of the others.

“You’re supposed to hit it into that ball.”

Zian frowns. “That seems like a pretty stupid way of doing things.”

“Jake’s right—those are the usual rules,” Dominic says from where he’s standing off to the side, studying the rack of cues. “But nothing says we couldn’t make up our own.”

They all fall silent when I stride into the room. Jacob’s expression tightens.

“Training is all done for the day?” he asks.

“For now.” I barrel onward before I can think better of the proposal I’m about to make—and how they might feel about it. “I need your help—I want us to do something for Riva. Something… big.”