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I give her shoulder one last squeeze. “We’re going to take him down. It won’t be too much longer.”
Riva shoots me a smile that looks too weary to really be reassuring, but I don’t know what else I can do except follow Rollick to the dining room that’s become our command center.
The other guys are sitting around the table—well, other than Jacob, who’s pacing with typical agitation. Toni, several of our shadowkind allies, and the other hybrid, Sorsha, have gathered there too.
Billy stands in one corner with his pipes, playing a softly lilting tune. If it’s meant to both soothe and bolster our spirits, I can feel it working a little. I dip my head to the faun with a smile as I sit down.
One of the shadowkind men who seems particularly close to Sorsha, the guy named Thorn who’s so massive he makes even me feel a bit small, is pointing to something on a topographical map of the mountain region. He speaks firmly but with a gloomy expression as if he’d rather not be here planning a war, even if he’s the best guy for the job.
“We shadowkind will need to focus mainly on deterring reinforcements from coming to Balthazar’s aid. The protections he has embedded in the rocks around his fortress would weaken even the strongest of us to a concerning point if we ventured beyond them.”
I frown, peering at the map even though I don’t have the slightest idea how to decipher the markings. The guardians expected to send us to attack shadowkind in or around areas where lots of people lived—preparing us for vast mountain ranges wasn’t high on their list of priorities.
But I know my strengths. The one good thing that came out of Balthazar’s manipulations was that I can help in more ways than I could before.
“My X-ray vision can cut through rock now,” I say. “Maybe I could carve out some of the protections to give you a way through.”
Rollick rubs his chin. “They’re deeply embedded and there are a lot of them. And chunks of rock crumbling away would draw attention rather quickly when we’re hoping to keep some element of surprise. I’m not sure that’ll be the best use of your talents.”
I glance at Jacob, who’s paused to listen to our exchange. “Maybe if Jake and I worked together, we could do it quickly. He’s shaken up mountains before. And Dominic could feed us extra power to help too.”
Sorsha taps part of the map. “It does seem like the lower face holds a lot of the toxic metals. If they could chop away that whole section, the more powerful shadowkind could probably tolerate the effects of the other surrounding protections.”
Toni leans forward with her hands clasped in front of her. “I don’t know how deeply the layers of protective metal go. Balthazar has always been very careful about warding his territories.”
The broad, scaled shadowkind named Steel lets out a grunt. “This is mainly the shadowbloods’ battle anyway. Are they so worried about handling the brunt of it?”
My hackles rise automatically, but I will down my temper. “It’s not that we don’t want to fight. We’ll be right in there. But we’re a lot more likely to get rid of Balthazar the more of us can attack at once.”
“Which is good for all of you too, considering he wants to exterminate you,” Andreas puts in, keeping his tone lighter than I managed to. He wets his lips. “Maybe if any of the shadowkind are good with illusions, they could keep up the appearance that everything’s fine down below until we’re all ready to barge in.”
Rollick hums to himself. “I have a couple of potential allies I could put out feelers to. But let’s not count on that aspect.”
Then he claps his hands with a definitive air. “You’ve all been straining your heads over this for a while. Take a breather, get refreshments if you need them, and we’ll reconvene in half an hour—at which point we should have final confirmation that this is definitely the location we’ll focus our first attack on.”
A few grumbles pass through the gathered shadowkind as they drift off—either visibly or vanishing into the shadows. My friends head out of the room too, but I take the opportunity to move closer to the table so I can study the map up close.
Even if Balthazar is arriving at this mountain base now, he’s never stayed there for very long the other two times Riva traced his presence there. But he seems to stop by once every couple of days.
When we have a solid plan, we’ll stake out the place and simply wait for him to return. If we’re really lucky, Sorsha will be able to blast him away with her phoenix fire before he even touches down—if he’s arriving by something as obvious as a helicopter.
But somehow, knowing Balthazar—and knowing that he’s seen the kind of firepower our new friends are capable of—I doubt it’ll be that easy.
A figure pops out of the shadows next to me with a wisp of a crisp floral scent, like roses that’ve been singed. Pearl clucks her tongue as she takes in the map. “This maniac really likes his mountains, huh?”
I automatically take a step to the side to give myself a little more room. But the succubus has a decent sense of personal space despite her methods of feeding—she doesn’t show any sign of offense about the distance I’ve added between us.
With her bouncy curls and bubbly personality, it’s hard to think of her as part of the same crew as Rollick’s other shadowkind allies. I do my best to keep my tone neutral. “Are you going to be joining in the attack too?”
She shrugs carelessly and grins at me. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ve already been prowling around the towns closest to the mountain to see if I can find any employees to seduce some secrets out of, but no luck so far.”
As she looks at me, a sly gleam comes into her eyes. “So, you finally sorted out your issues with Riva, huh?”
My face flushes so hot my cheeks must be blazing scarlet. “I, um— We’re getting there.”
Are we that obvious? But then, this is a being whose life revolves around sex—I guess it makes sense that she’d pick up on a shift in that part of our dynamic pretty easily.
Pearl’s smile is all eager approval. “That’s great. I know that the physical part of human relationships isn’tquiteas essential as it is for me, but most people do seem happier when it’s working out. And you all deserve to be happy.” The gleam turns even slyer. “If you need any tips for continuing to ‘get there,’ feel free to hit me up. You guys should be treating Riva right.”
