“Practical,” I corrected, grabbing my bag and stuffing my heels and my cell inside, not making the same mistake as I had yesterday. Then I slipped on my sneakers and headed for the door.
“There’s a difference.”
He fell into step behind me, muttering under his breath about ungrateful mortals and hostile work environments, but he didn’t argue again. And while I told myself that was a win, a small, uneasy part of me wondered how long that fragile balance was going to hold.
Especially when I already knew exactly where I’d have to go if it didn’t. And that thought lingered far longer than I wanted it to.
The morning air hit my face the second I stepped outside, cool and brisk enough to make me draw my jacket closer around myself as the door shut behind us with a solid, reassuring click. The street looked exactly the way it always did at this hour. Early commuters moving with purpose, traffic already thickening, and the city humming along. As if nothing in my life had been irrevocably altered overnight.
Right now, I clung to that normality like it was a life raft, even as my thoughts kept threatening to drift back to dark clubs and darker owners. We made it half a block before Bo broke the silence.
“So,” he said, already breathless and deeply offended.
“Why are we walking… don’t you have one of those things?” he asked, motioning to a car as it sped by.
I glanced down at him, unimpressed.
“No, I don’t.”
“Why the hell’s bells not?” he cried in outrage.
“Because cars are expensive and walking is good for you.”
“I am not built for this,” he complained, gesturing to his shorter legs as if they’d personally betrayed him.
“We could be riding something or, at the very least, being chauffeured. Not walking like some peasants.” Oh great, trust me to get the snobby goblin.
“Okay, so for starters, I am not a peasant. I am a sensible person on a budget, and walking saves money.”
He huffed at that, mumbling,
“I can’t believe I got stuck with a peasant.”
“Oh, excuse me,” I shot back, dodging a cyclist and tugging him out of the way before he got flattened.
“You are more than welcome to go find someone else to bother.”
He glared up at me, panting slightly.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
I rubbed my forehead in annoyance and kept going. My stride was steady as the familiar route grounded me despite the oddity of arguing with a goblin on a public sidewalk. This was my only exercise most days, and even now, my muscles remembered the rhythm of it. My body moved on autopilot while my mind ran through worst-case scenarios, it absolutely did not need to be entertaining before nine a.m.
A few blocks in, Bo started lagging behind, his breathing dramatic and pointed.
“Are we there yet?”
Goddess, but when did I become the parent in this picture?
“We left fifteen minutes ago,” I reminded him with a shake of my head.
“This is cruelty,” he panted.
“I was not summoned to suffer,” he continued to complain, making me wonder if I hadn’t summoned him at all, but in fact, the little pain in the ass just got kicked out of Hell for annoying his elders.
“I will buy you roller skates,” I offered without missing a beat.
“Tiny little ones. With sparkles.”
