Page 61 of Consort's Glory
I have to jump.
“Oh, I really don’t want to.” Margot made a face as she clumsily pulled herself into the passenger’s seat, painfully aware of her thin tights and not-very-protective coat. Eyeing the quickly approaching exit, she hurriedly zipped the jacket up to her throat and pulled the hood over her head.
A bend in the road preceded the exit. It would be her only chance to slip out of the car unseen by Theodore’s escorts as the escort ahead rounded the bend and the one behind them fell momentarily behind. But it was going to hurt like a sonofabitch.
Sucking in a deep breath, Margot prayed to Glory and Grim to keep her from landing on too much glass or any other gutter detritus that hadn’t yet been swept up by the street bots. Not that the goddesses of magic and death made a habit of listening to her, but it never hurt to try.
I don’t know why you’ve put me on this path,she prayed, but I’m not looking to make too much of a mess of it. A nice, soft landing in some grass would be ideal.
Margot rested her hand on the door handle, her muscles tensed to jump, but couldn’t stop herself from looking back at the man slumped in the back seat one last time. She hesitated.
The urge to touch him one last time before she fled was an impulse she was helpless to fight. The bond was built on touch, her gifts even moreso. Margot needed to touch him.
She took precious seconds to skim the pads of her fingers over his cheek in a tender caress, to comb her nails through his mussed black hair — like the thickest silk — before she thought to snatch his bunched up coat from his arms. I need it to protect myself from the road.
No, it had nothing to do with that howling thing inside of her, furious and desperate at the thought of parting from its mate, and it definitely didn’t have anything to do with the fact that it smelled deliciously familiar as she wrapped its bulk around her.
The car began its gentle turn around the bend. Before she could stall a moment longer and miss her one chance at freedom, Margot disengaged the lock, opened the door just enough to fit through, and jumped.
* * *
After she took her time to heal her cuts, scrapes, and fractured arm — an act as natural to her as breathing, and one she had been deprived of for almost a year — Margot wound her way through narrow streets and back alleys before using a tourist’s cellphone to call Viktor.
Normally she wouldn’t have dared, but she was desperate, and he was the only person in the city besides Theodore she truly trusted.
Despite the fact that it was around the time most people would be busy having dinner with their families, Viktor didn’t hesitate. He was pulling up beside the curb she’d perched on not twenty minutes later. The shifter looked strangely dapper in a dark blue suit, and if she were in any other situation she would have asked him what the occasion was.
She didn’t, though. Instead, she climbed into the passenger’s seat and quietly asked him to take her to the Market.
Viktor didn’t press her for details of what had obviously happened, though his eyes were coyote bright and flicked in her direction often. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all until they pulled up to the cracked curb and killed the engine.
Turning to lean his elbow against the center console, he asked, “Did he hurt you, sunshine?”
Margot shook her head. No, now that she had a little bit of space from the disaster of their bonding, she was certain Theodore wouldn’t hurt her.
“Then you gonna tell me why you look like you just stepped out of a warzone?”
She choked out a laugh as she scrubbed her palms over her cheeks. No doubt she did look like a mess. It was a wonder no one had called Patrol to check on her as she wandered the streets.
Her voice was reedy when she admitted, “I bonded to Theodore.”
Viktor was quiet for a beat, but when Margot dared to gauge his expression, it was sympathetic, not shocked like she expected. “I figured as much. Is that why you ran?”
Margot bristled. “I didn’t run. I just…”
“Sunshine,” he calmly interjected, “it’s okay. Matehood can be scary as fuck. Double for being mated to an elf. Believe me, I, of all people, get it. But I’d like to know what your plan is now.”
“Plan?”
“Yeah.” His blond brows dropped in a frown. “You do have one, right? You have to know he’s not just going to give you up because you hoofed it.”
A shudder ran down her spine. “I just needed space to figure out what I’m going to do,” she answered, annoyed at a base level that he would even suggest she planned to just… never see Theodore again. That wasn’t an option.
Viktor hummed a low note. “I get that, but, sunshine… Speaking from personal experience here, you should get comfortable with the idea of not having space from him for much longer.” He shook his head, slow and knowing. “No, if I were in his shoes, I’d already be tracking you down.” His jaw clenched hard. “I don’t envy what he’s probably going through right now, either. Probably worried out of his damn mind. Not knowing where my mate is? If she’s hurt or scared or hungry? Yeah, I’d be fucking losing it.”
“Well, he can worry for a little longer. I need space.” Margot gestured out the window. “This is the only place I can get it.”
“Sure, for an hour or so.” Viktor reached over to give her a gentle cuff on the jaw with his knuckles. “Just don’t be too hard on him if he acts crazy, alright? Teddy’s a good guy. He usually means well.”
