Page 9 of Consort's Glory
The shifter let out a harsh exhale. “Publicly?”
Theodore straightened his shoulders. “Yes.”
“I’ll be damned. Good luck, Teddy.” Viktor turned to walk away, his second prowling behind him, but stopped after just a few steps. He didn’t turn to face Theodore when he asked, “Is… is Cam doing well?”
Theodore crossed his arms and tried to squash the flare of old, protective anger that came with the mention of his cousin’s name. “Why don’t you see for yourself? She’s in town for the Summit.”
He watched Viktor’s shoulders bunch, every muscle in the shifter’s body tightening until he nearly vibrated with tension. His voice was harsh when he whispered, “You know I can’t do that.”
“Right.” Theodore felt a familiar bubble of disgust burst in his gut. “Because you’re a coward.”
Viktor didn’t take the bait. He didn’t whirl around to snarl. They were both men now, both responsible for too many lives to snap and claw at one another as they used to. But Theodore knew he wanted to.
“Don’t you fucking do that,” Viktor hissed.
Theodore shook his head, disappointed in the man he once saw as a brother and furious on his cousin’s behalf. “The world is about to change, Vik. Maybe think about that before you let fear steal more from you than it already has.”
Viktor nodded, a single jerky movement of his head, before gesturing for his second to follow him back to their vehicle. Neither commented on the eerie silence of the street now lined by stiff-backed shadows in sleek uniforms.
Theodore turned back to the house, now only a smoking ruin. His eyes found Margot immediately.
She looked terribly small as she stood on the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around her middle and her face tilted up to stare at the shattered windows and curling tails of smoke rising from the Healing House.
As the fire squad began their final sweep over the property to ensure that none of the blaze had been left to smolder unchecked, Theodore could not escape the impression that Margot Goode seemed very alone.
His heart beating fast, he thought, No, she’s not alone.
He was closing the space between them before he’d even thought it through, his long legs eating up the sidewalk until he stood by her side. In an instant, the slump of her shoulders vanished; replaced by a rigid chill that kept her spine straight, her chin up.
She turned and took one precise step back. “Thank you for coming, Sovereign. I’ll be sure to convey your concern to my grandmother when I get the chance. I—”
“You can call her and tell her that you are now formally under my protection from the comfort of the Tower,” he smoothly interjected, his temper strung taut by her proximity, her injuries, and the wild suggestion that he was ever going to let her out of his sight again.
Sweeping an arm towards the car Kaz procured after their hasty transport from the emergency m-gate in his office, he added, “You will be guarded and taken care of there. You will rest so your injuries can heal properly. Everything you need will be provided for you.”
He expected her to hesitate, but Margot didn’t even look in the direction of the car. Her eyes, red-brown like new pennies, fixed on his face with the sort of politely mulish look only medical professionals could master.
“I appreciate the offer, sir, but I must decline. I’d prefer to stay with my kin.”
Her defiance should have made him bristle. He was at the top of the hierarchy — people simply did not say no to him.
When the Families gathered for the Summit, they might collectively vote against him, but one on one? They might simper, they might lie, they might find other ways to get what they wanted, but they didn’t just refuse him. It would have been taken as a direct challenge, and that challenge would be met with the instinctive bloodlust that sang in his blood.
But this was Margot. Instead of bloodlust, he felt his claws sink backwards into his fingertips, retracting beneath the leather and silver of his gloves. Instead of his muscles clenching with the promise of violence, they relaxed. Even the frantic beating of his heart began to slow.
It was a challenge, but the sort that his body knew instinctively would not be won with tooth and claw.
Keeping his voice low, soothing, he took a small step closer and said, “I cannot guarantee your safety with your kin. I can guarantee it in my Tower.”
Something rippled across her expression, a flash of naked fear, before she shook her head. “No.”
“No?” Glory save him, but he wanted to pet her and bite her in equal measure. “No… what?”
“No, you can’t guarantee that.”
That made his spine lock. “You don’t think I am capable of protecting you?” Theodore was painfully aware of the smoldering building to his right, just as he was aware of the blood drying in iron-rich tracks on her delicate skin. “I wasn’t here for this,” he ground out, “but I will not let anything harm you again, Healer Goode.”
Those penny eyes searched his face. He watched, fascinated, as her round pupils blew up to eclipse all but the finest ring of copper iris.
