Climbing out of the car, Camille reminded herself that she was fulfilling her mother’s dying wish. She would not make the mistakes Marian had. She would not end up a bitter husk, wreaking misery wherever possible. She would live on her own terms or she would die trying.
Make a union. Get out of the family. Be free.
She just needed to secure Theodore’s permission first. He wouldn’t like it, but she doubted he would outright refuse her. How could he? Her union with a powerful elvish family would only strengthen his position. It wasn’t like any of his brothers were in a rush to make alliances, so she would do what was in everyone’s best interest.
ChapterFour
Camille kepther eyes ahead and her steps quick as she passed through the lobby, every one of her senses stretched to catch even the slightest hint of danger. The scent of shifter — coyote, specifically — was entirely absent from the people mingling in the luxurious, well lit lobby, but she didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until she was in the elevator and riding up to the private floors.
The Sovereign’s Guard, faceless and silent, nodded to her as they let her through the blast door and into the long, terrible hallway that guarded the Solbourne penthouse floor. Malevolent, watchful magic was thick in the air. Sigils painted in blood coated every inch of the ceiling, making it nearly impossible for intruders to pass through without being maimed, or scalded to death by their own boiling innards, or something equally horrifying. It made the Solbourne family apartments perhaps the safest place in the entire UTA.
Despite her semi-regular, enforced visits and the awful hallway, Camille never got tired of the Solbourne’s penthouse floor. It was a massive estate suspended in the sky, over which a dome of stained glass threw candy-colored light. The metal door opened into an octagonal space lined with pillars and doors. Each door led to another wing, though most of them were empty.
Someday, they might be filled with Theodore and Margot’s children andtheirfamilies, but that was far enough in the future to be unimaginable to Camille. Her only concern at that moment was finding her way to Theodore’s office and securing his seal of approval.
Camille didn’t want to think about the promise of her cousin’s future when hers hung on the edge of a knife.
She knew his guards would have already alerted him to her entry into the penthouse, but she knocked on the heavy wood door anyway. One didn’t simply barge into the sovereign’s office — not even when they were once nothing more than naked babies cavorting together in the private gardens behind the Tower.
“Come in, Cammie.”
Breathe in. Breathe out.She steeled her spine. There was no backing out after this. Once she told Theodore, the whole family would know, and she was certain they would all have opinions on the subject.
But no matter how much she loathed asking for permission and wished she could continue to work in secret, Camille was no coward. She would be forthright with her plans. If Theodore disagreed with them, then she would just figure something else out.
Anything was better than living in perpetual fear of losing her mind, anyway.
She curled her gloved fingers over the door knob and gave it a sharp twist. It swung open on well-oiled hinges to reveal a room with a tall ceiling, glass-encased bookshelves, and plush leather furniture. A massive live edge desk stood in front of a wall of windows that showcased the San Francisco skyline beyond the thin strip of deadly water.
Strangely, it looked as though the familiar desk had been… expanded. A new, curved piece of live edge mahogany had been artfully attached to the right side, and a smaller chair stood behind it. On the far corner, a small pile of ancient pulp sci-fi novels stood beside a framed newspaper clipping — specifically a paparazzi shot of Theodore and his consort climbing into a car after their secret wedding.
Oh,Camille thought with a small start.That must be Margot’s desk now, too.
Theodore sat in a chair behind the desk, his usual suit jacket discarded and his elbows braced on the arms. One ungloved hand curled over his chin as he regarded her. “Hey Cammie,” he greeted, baritone smooth and comforting. There was a cautious warmth in his voice. “It’s been a while.”
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Her eyes lingered on the empty half of the desk and then the bookshelves as she avoided looking at her cousin. He was dear to her in his own heavy handed way, but she found it difficult to look at him for too long without staring at the dark blue, healed marriage sigil between his brows.
It wasn’t that it looked foreign or grotesque — though a subset of hardline elvish isolationists would argue the point — but rather that when she looked at the symbol of his happy marriage, she was filled with envy.
Shewanted that. She wanted a consort and a happy partnership and love and babies and warmth. She wanted that more than she could properly articulate even to herself.
But fate saddled her with a consort who didn’t really want her and never would, so she could only take what few scraps were available to her.
Reeling in her familiar anger, she politely asked, “How was your honeymoon?”
Instead of looking him in the eye, she watched his mouth curve in a wide, satisfied smile. “My time with Margot was wonderful. We swam in the lake and she took meblackberrypicking, though I still don’t see the appeal of the nasty little things.” His smile dimmed as a chill entered his voice. “Being with her is everything I could have wanted, but I could have done without spending so much time with her family.”
Camille’s hackles raised. The low, almost inaudible rumble coming from Theodore’s chest sent her instincts on edge. He wouldn’t hurt her, but instinct was instinct.
Not that she blamed him for being upset. She didn’t even know Margot andshewas upset on her behalf.
Word traveled fast in their family, even when some of the members were intentionally distant. Camille heard from her brother, who heard from Theodore’s older brother Sam, what exactly the Goodes had done to their halfling kin. It turned her stomach.
What kind of monsters mutilated their own young?
Babies were precious.Rare.Camille wanted her own, though she was practical enough to get herself an IUD so she could choose when she wished to have a child — certainly that would come up after her union was solidified, but hopefully not too soon.
To hear that Margot’s mother had been blessed with a child, only to abandon her to people who did not know the proper way to care for an elvish child made everything in her bristle with rage.
