Dark Princess: Shadows (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance #89)

17. Rob

17

ROB

R ob added a few lines of code to the program he was working on and, satisfied with his progress, looked up over the screen of his laptop, hoping to see Margo enter the café, but she was running late and the cappuccino he'd ordered for her was getting cold.

Not her fault.

It wasn't as if she could just get in the car and drive to the village. She had to wait until one of the Guardians on rotation in the keep could give her a ride on his return journey.

Someone waved at him, and he smiled and waved back, but he couldn't remember who the guy was. Perhaps he knew him from the gym.

Rob had been going every day and meeting so many people that it was impossible to remember them all. It didn't help that they were all so freakishly perfect that it was difficult to find things to remember them by, like a bald head, a crooked nose, glasses, or a big-ass mole on the cheek.

When Margo finally appeared, her face lit up with a smile as she spotted him, and she waved while rushing over as if she hadn't seen him in months.

Rob rose to his feet, ready to embrace his sister.

She looked radiant and more beautiful than he remembered her from before her transition, but he wasn't sure that immortality was the only reason she looked so good. She was happy with her guy, who, despite being a freaking god, worshiped the ground she walked on.

"Rob!" Margo weaved her way through the tables. "Sorry I'm late. My ride needed to make a stop on the way."

"No worries." He embraced her tightly. "I've been keeping myself busy with work."

"You know it's the weekend, right?" She sat down on the chair he pulled out for her. "You're not supposed to be working."

He smiled. "I enjoy my work, and it's not like there is much else to do around here other than train in the gym, which I have been doing daily." He flexed his bicep. "Does it show?"

She scrunched her nose. "Give it some more time."

Laughing, he leaned closer to her. "You look good. Happy."

Margo's smile widened. "I am, but I will be even happier when I can move into this incredible place. Don't get me wrong, living in Kian's penthouse is no hardship, but it's difficult to relax when I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if, in a week or two, I will have to pack my bags and trek with Negal and the others through some godforsaken countryside, searching for the missing Kra-ell pods, or if I get to move into the village. I'm crossing my fingers for the experiment to work and for their commander not to notice that the tracker was moved from Dagor to a human host."

"Why does it need a host?"

"Those trackers only work in live bodies. Otherwise, they could've put it in a box and shipped it from place to place."

"Who is the host?" Rob asked.

Margo winced. "A trafficker they captured during one of their raids. They are keeping him locked up in the dungeon below the keep."

He arched a brow. "They have a dungeon?"

"They do," she whispered conspiratorially. "They also have catacombs under the keep. That's where they keep the Doomers they catch and put in stasis and also where they store the Kra-ell in their stasis chambers. The place is huge. It's spread out under an entire city block."

"Now you tell me?" Rob leaned back. "You should have said something while I was still there and taken me on a tour."

"You were in a rush to get to the village, remember?"

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I have no regrets. I love it here. So what now? How long are Aru and the others planning to wait for the commander to notice that the tracker was moved?"

"Aru wants to wait until the end of next week. If they don't hear from their commander, they will find humans willing to carry the trackers for a fee and send them trekking through Tibet, China, or Russia. The idea is to replace the hosts every now and then so they stay young and healthy."

Rob nodded slowly. "What if something goes wrong? I mean, what happens if one of those humans dies for some reason? Things happen, even to young people. It could be days before the gods could reach that person and transfer the tracker to someone else, and their commander will notice that one of the trackers is not transmitting."

Margo's smile faltered. "Oh, shoot. We hadn't thought of that."

"Could they claim it malfunctioned?" Rob asked.

She shook her head. "The gods' tech is supposedly fail-proof, but maybe they can do that. On the other hand, if that was a viable option, don't you think Aru would have thought of it already? There must be a reason he can't just tell the commander that one of the trackers broke down."

"Right." Rob drummed his fingers on the table, thinking of a way to solve the problem.

Margo's shoulders slumped, the excitement draining from her face. "Fates, how did we not think of that? What do you think we should do?"

Rob took a sip of his cappuccino, buying himself a moment to think. "Honestly? I don't know. But I'll keep thinking about it. There's got to be a solution. It's also possible to ignore the risk and hope for the best. It's not that likely that a young, healthy person would die if they are keeping safe and not doing anything stupid."

"True." Margo's mood seemed to have improved instantly. "By the way, did you get to speak to William?"

"Not yet, why?"

She shrugged. "I was just thinking on the way here how great it would be if both of us got to work for Perfect Match. You could work on the code part of it while I come up with amazing ideas for new adventures. My training is almost complete, and I'm ready to start."

He frowned. "I thought you were training to become an operator."

"I'm flexible. The truth is that I will be happy with any position they give me. I'm dying to experience a virtual trip, but I haven't done it yet because I've been waiting to do it with Negal. He's only agreed to do it in the village because he doesn't feel safe doing it outside and risking exposure. I tried to convince him that it was fine, and that Toven did it in one of the outside studios, and nothing happened, well, other than Mia nearly dying, but that had nothing to do with him being a god or someone discovering that he wasn't human. She got overexcited."

Rob knew about the Perfect Match service, of course.

Who didn't?

Advertisements for the studios were everywhere, and Margo had been talking about it ever since Mia had met her fiancé through the service, but somehow, it had never occurred to him to try it himself.

Rob leaned back in his chair. "From what you've told me, participants are monitored by people with medical training. How come no one noticed that Toven didn't react like a human?"

She shrugged. "I don't think the differences are so evident. We still have the same organs in the same places, but gods and immortals have a much better self-healing ability."

"Also better hearing, eyesight, sense of smell, etc."

"True, but that's not something that would become evident from monitoring blood pressure and heart rate. Negal is worried that the interface will tap into his memories, but since memories are nearly indistinguishable whether they are of real events, dreams, or fantasies, how would the AI running the program know what's real, right?"

Rob nodded. "I wonder what it's like to get completely immersed in an adventure and forget who I am in the real world. Frankly, I don't think it's possible."

Margo's eyes lit up. "It is, and it's incredible. People can't tell it is not real. You feel like you are living inside the virtual world. You can do a solo adventure and experience things like piloting a fighter jet or parachuting or any other dangerous activity that you would have never dared in real life, but in my opinion, the best adventures are those you do with a partner. You're sharing the experience with someone else, either a stranger that the algorithm matched you with or the person you are currently with. In both cases, you get to know them in ways you never could in the real world, and since there are two minds involved, the adventures are richer and more full of surprises."

"It's intriguing, but as someone who is intimately familiar with code, I don't think I trust an algorithm to find my perfect match."

She seemed surprised. "You don't? Why?"

"Biases that are introduced by the programmers or the material the AI is trained on. Despite my obviously inadequate judgment, I still prefer to find my partner myself. That being said, I would love to try an adventure and get out of my comfort zone. I can still hear Lynda screeching about how boring I am."

Margo's eyes softened. "Forget that harpy." She put her hand on his arm. "You are embarking on the greatest adventure of your life by just being here."

"That's true." He looked around the café and all the perfect people sitting at the small tables, drinking their coffees and munching on their pastries or sandwiches. "It feels like a movie set here. Everyone is beautiful."

She followed his gaze. "They are, aren't they? Not as perfect as my Negal, though."

Rob laughed. "Who would have thought that my baby sister would snag a god?" He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "So, tell me what you have learned in school today."

He used to ask her that when they were still kids, imitating their father.

"Well, today I wasn't at school, but I can tell you what I've learned over the past weeks."

As Margo talked about the psychological profiling, the customized scenarios, and the extensive questionnaires that were needed to craft the experience, Rob found himself imagining what it might be like to step into one of those virtual worlds. To shed the constraints of reality and explore unknown parts of himself.

"The best part," Margo said, "is that it's not just about romance. Sure, that's a big part of it for many people, but the experiences can be tailored to all kinds of relationships. Friendships, mentorships, even just meeting like-minded individuals who share your interests."

Rob nodded. "It sounds transformative."

Margo beamed. "It is. That's why I'm so excited to be a part of it."