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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?”
Rollick shakes his head. “She hasn’t reported any progress so far.”
Dominic frowns. “We could reach out to them telling them directly that we believe he’s allied with the shadowkind and is looking to take them out. But I don’t know how we’d convince them to believe us. We can’t tell them who we actually are.”
“I can.” Toni strides up to us from farther down the hall, where she must have been watching the confrontation. “They knew me at least a little. They know how closely I worked with Balthazar, and they should have no reason to believeI’veswitched my loyalties. A warning that he’s gone off the rails and is going against everything he used to stand for would make sense coming from me.”
My heart leaps, but I hesitate at the same time. “Are you sure? He can’t know yet just how far you’ve turned against him. If you speak to them, he could find out…”
Toni gazes back at me steadily. “I said I’d try to make up for all the damage he’s done while I stood by, and I meant it. The risk is nothing compared to what the rest of you have been through—it’s nothing compared to what Pearl is facing right now.”
I hadn’t realized Pearl had filled Toni in on her mission. Apparently they’ve gotten even friendlier than I guessed from the snippet of a conversation I overheard.
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Zian puts in. “You’d know how to talk to people like them better than we would anyway.”
The corner of her mouth curls upward. “I certainly hope I do. But we need to be coordinated. What exactly should I be nudging them toward doing?”
Rollick rubs his jaw thoughtfully. “Once they believe Balthazar is a threat to them and needs to be stopped… We decided that our best opportunity would be if they can manage to draw him away from his own territory, at least briefly. Somewhere he’ll have the benefit of fewer protections and preparation.”
Andreas nods. “Since it’s the guardians, I’m sure they’ll still make sure there are wards against the shadowkind, but it’ll give us shadowbloods a better chance at getting to him.”
“The tricky part was that Balthazar won’t want to go anywhere that’s outside his plans,” I say, knitting my brow. “But with all the information the Guardianship must have on him… We’re hoping they could convince him that he needs to speak to them face to face, or they’ll expose something to the governments he’s trying to manipulate that would undermine his true intentions. A little blackmail.”
Jacob lets out a rough guffaw. “Knowing that psycho, he’d probably show up just so he could wipe them all out and never have to worry about it again.”
A small smile crosses my lips. “That’s fine. It doesn’t even matter if he succeeds. Two birds with one stone. All we need is to get him someplace where he doesn’t control everything around us.”
