In fact, she would go so far as to say she was pretty fucking intelligent. Perhaps she would never be as breathtakingly smart as a genius like Ruby, or even their friend Hele, but she was damn clever.
She’d left the Sanctuary with no more than the clothes on her back and the bare minimum of formal education to speak of. She lived in a communal home, figured out how to get bank accounts and identification, and how to drive all in the same year. She supported herself in school by working multiple grueling service jobs. She’d been published in some of the most prestigious academic journals in the world and had her damn PhD.
Atria was smart, capable, and street savvy.
That was why she decided it was in her best interest to allow the orc,Kazimier,to lead her off of the plane and into the airport, one huge hand pressed against the small of her back. His other hand was occupied with a medium-sized black duffle bag — the sight of which made her shudder.
She’d watched enough entertainment feeds in the years since she left the Sanctuary to know two things: first, that black duffle bags only ever held items of menace, and second, that she should not, underany circumstances,go anywhere alone with the orc.
He’d tried to convince her he was harmless, but Atria wasn’t a fool. Margot’s wedding had been witnessed byhundredsof people. There was every chance that he was using information he’d gleaned from one of those people to trick her. She certainly had no memory of him. Atria had wracked her mind, but the entire event was torture for her.
There were hundreds of people there and every single one of them exuded a cloud of intense emotion.Elation. Confusion. Fear. Affection. Envy.
Normally she never would have agreed to go to an event of that size, of thatimportance,but Margot was her friend, and no one in their right mind would have turned down an invitation to a wedding as historic as hers.
So she went, and suffered for it. She’d asked Norman to accompany her, but he refused, citing work, and so she had no one to focus on. That left her unmoored and at risk of emotional overload. By the time the actual ceremony was underway, she struggled to merely stand upright and breathe, let alone carefully examine the faces of the groom’s party.
The entire event was a blur of color and discomfort, punctuated by spikes of nausea and the urge to run into the woods roughly every five minutes. Attempting to recall Kazimier’s face was like trying to catch the memory of smoke curling in the air.
In other words, it was the perfect cover.
He’d picked an event that was both private and also attended by hundreds, making the verification of details not impossible. He’d also immediately confiscated both her phone and her tablet once they left the plane, saying she would be able to contact Margot when he knew there wasn’t a tracker embedded in them.
There was absolutely no way for her to confirm his identity other than by his word. Atria was way too smart to fall for that.
Did she have any clue why he might possibly want to kidnap her or otherwise hurt her? No, but she had no intention of sticking around to find out.
So she allowed him to steer her through the milling crowds waiting at the gates without a fuss. When he told her to keep her eyes forward, she listened. She did her best to keep her mounting panic contained and her little rolling suitcase in her sweaty grip. He’d already warned her not to involve anyone else, so she couldn’t risk asking for help. She was on her own, just like she always was.
It was a good thing she was smarter than him.
The hand on her back tensed, pushing slightly to indicate she should turn toward the m-lev loading zone.
Her breathing sped up.You can do this. Get on the m-lev, stay by the doors. As soon as it looks like the doors are about to close, jump off and run back into the airport.
It wasn’t a great plan, but it also wasn’t the first time she’d had to lose a creep on public transportation. She could do this. Once she lost him, she’d run to her hotel and put up every ward she knew.Thenshe’d call Margot.
Except, as soon as they neared the crowd of impatient travelers waiting for the next train, she felt the hand on her back spasm. Strong fingers curled into the divot of her waist to pull her tight against the orc’s side. He was blazing hot and built like a brick wall. His muscle didn’t have even a little give when he pressed her closer.
This man is going to snap me in half.Atria might have found it titillating if that wasn’t a very real threat.
“Shit,” he muttered, beginning to subtly steer her away from the loading zone and toward the bank of elevators just beside it.
“What?” she squeaked. “I thought you said we were taking the train. Those lead to the parking lot.”
He squeezed her waist. She wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a reassuring touch or a threatening one. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Without turning your head, I want you to look at the crowd waiting for the train. See anyone you recognize from the flight?”
She did as she was told. “I… yes? A few people. We did just all get off a flight. I don’t see—”
“There are three gargoyles on us right now, princess. The gray one is waiting by the edge of the platform. He’s the lookout. The other two are behind us. They were going to follow us onto the train and then tail us.”
Atria fought the impulse to crane her neck and gawk at the gargoyle. She’d only taken him in briefly, but he’d seemed normal enough. Wide shoulders, towering build, great, leathery wings, and short, sharp horns — he looked like every other gargoyle she’d ever seen. They were all a little intimidating, honestly, but she’d never heard of anyone beingafraidof them before.
Gargoyles were protectors. It was some biological tick that made them hardwired for law enforcement, security, and general protection duties. Whole clans had thousand-year-long histories of dedication to a city, a cathedral, even a family. Once they pledged their protection to a person or a place, they were utterly and irrevocably tied to it.
So the idea that the men she’d seen on the plane wereafterher… Well, it didn’t make her trust the orc more. In fact, it made her trust him less.
Was she really supposed to be swayed bythatstory?
