Page 64 of Consort's Glory
Margot squinted into the darkness of the clinic. She was still curled up in a tight ball under Theodore’s coat, and although she was warm enough, her body was sore from keeping the strained position for too long.
Must have been what woke me. She groaned and turned onto her back, careful to keep her bare toes under the hem of her makeshift blanket. I wonder if a jail cell would have been a little bit more comfortable.
No, she groggily decided, not if her elvish wardens decided she wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping around long enough to need blankets.
With that grim thought in mind, Margot sighed and squeezed her eyes shut once more, determined to get as much rest as she could before the massive problems of tomorrow tumbled onto her shoulders.
Darling.
Her eyes popped open.
Darling, I know you can hear me. I can tell you’re awake.
Her heart slammed against her ribs as she shot up on her cot, the old springs squealing in protest.
“Theodore?”
Margot pressed the heels of her hands into her temples, too shocked to do anything else. In the back of her mind, the electric current of their bond hummed with untold power, its size and strength quadrupled sometime while she dozed.
Margot, talk to me.
How? She didn’t have any telepathic abilities! She never wanted them.
In fact, her instructors had all complained to her grandmother about her abysmal lack of talent with anything even remotely psychic, but Margot was pleased to know that her thoughts were never in danger of being projected to another’s.
The fact that Theodore’s voice rang so very clear in her head was as horrifying as it was… Goddess, why am I actually relieved?
The feeling lay buried under her panic, but it was there. She was relieved that she could hear his voice, that it meant he was okay. Clutching his coat around her bare legs, Margot pressed her forehead against her kneecaps and thought, I don’t know how to talk to you.
That worked just fine.
Oh. She blinked, her chest going strangely tight at the rough warmth in his mental voice. I don’t know how we’re talking.
I have a myriad of mid-to-high level psychic abilities,he answered, clear as a bell in her mind. And we are connected by a bond running on the equivalent of nuclear power. Connecting to you has always been easy. Now it’s like breathing.
Margot tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Are you okay? When I left, you…
Yes. If they had been speaking aloud, Margot imagined Theodore’s response was bitten off the tip of the tongue. He didn’t sound amused, but what did she expect? That he would laugh about how she knocked him out and then ditched him in a car? No doubt the only reason he was speaking to her now was to ascertain her whereabouts, like Viktor warned her he would.
Dreading the answer but needing it anyway, she asked, Aren’t you searching for me? Why haven’t you asked where I am?
There was a tiny pause, then, Darling, I already know where you are.
Her stomach dropped. What?
My consort, my… vexing witch, I’m going to have to ask you to open the window. I don’t imagine you want me breaking it.
Margot gasped. Twisting around, she peered up at the single, rectangular window by the lockers. A shadow blocked out the dull yellow light. A shadow that moved.
A flash of metal through the twisting cracks and old tape was followed by the soft tink-tink, tink-tink of Theodore’s claws on the glass.
It’s cold out here, he rumbled. Have some mercy on me, won’t you? Let me in.
