7. An Entertaining Chase #3
“Leave… Now!” Atlas said, the words low, cold, and edged with enough royal command to make even the air obey his orders.
The maid didn’t need telling twice. She dipped into something that might have been a curtsy, if terror had not robbed it of all elegance.
Then she snatched at the nearest handful of linen as though that could somehow restore the dignity of the moment.
Of course, failing completely, she abandoned the rest and vanished back through the doorway.
Doing so with the desperate speed of someone who had just discovered that her work came with hazards no one had mentioned during training.
For half a second, Atlas watched the empty doorway.
As for me, that was all I needed.
I drove my elbow back into his stomach with every bit of force I could gather from the awkward angle.
So not enough to truly damage him, because I doubted anything short of a collapsing temple could manage that.
But it was enough to catch him unprepared while his attention was elsewhere.
The impact landed hard beneath his ribs, and Atlas released a sharp, furious breath as his grip loosened just enough for me to twist out of it.
“Alexandra.” My name came out as a warning and a growl, but I was already moving.
I tore myself free, gathered my skirts again, and ran before he could catch me properly this time.
My pulse leaped with triumph and panic in equal measure as I ran in the opposite direction.
I also knew almost instantly that I had made a mistake, because there was nowhere useful to go.
Only polished marble, towering windows, too much space, and the enormous throne waiting at the far end like the punchline to some cruel cosmic joke.
Honestly, at this point, I was beginning to suspect I had lost all ability to solve problems like a normal person.
Every solution my brain presented seemed to involve either fleeing, yelling, or committing acts of violence against a king.
And well, considering none of those options had worked particularly well so far, I was starting to run out of ideas.
Unfortunately, I was also running out of room.
The throne room stretched around me in a wash of gold and white marble, vast enough to host an army and yet somehow offering absolutely nowhere useful to hide.
My footsteps echoed through the enormous chamber as I gathered my skirts and hurried across the vast, open space toward the open doors that would take me outside.
I gasped as the doors closed in front of me, a low chuckle coming from behind.
Without faltering, I turned, heading toward the doors I had come through the day of the battle, but before I could take more than two steps, the doors banged closed, a click of a lock echoing mockingly.
Behind me, Atlas was already moving again, his pace measured and relentless, and the sound of his footsteps followed me across the polished floor with the inevitability of an approaching storm.
I could feel him gaining ground. Not because he was running. Oh no, he didn’t need to, and that somehow made everything worse.
“You have nowhere to fly to, little bird,” he called after me, and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing him getting closer.
“And you could take the hint!” I shouted back, and Atlas’s expression suggested he had several responses prepared for that.
None of them complimentary.
The frustrating thing was that I knew he wasn’t truly angry.
Irritated, certainly. Exasperated, absolutely.
Frustrated enough to throttle me, probably.
But beneath all of that, something else lingered.
Something dangerously close to amusement, and the fact that he was finding any part of this entertaining only made me want to elbow him again.
I spun around before I could act on the impulse and increased my pace, muttering under my breath as I wrestled with the endless folds of fabric, determined to wrap themselves around my legs.
Somewhere in the distance, I could almost hear Riley laughing at me.
Years of combat training, countless battles, impossible odds survived, and this was how I was going to die, strangled by an expensive dress while attempting to escape my infuriatingly persistent boyfriend.
The thought almost made me smile.
Almost.
Then my foot caught the edge of my skirt, and thoughts of smiling vanished.
“Oh, for fuc…” I muttered as the world abruptly tilted beneath me before I could finish that sentence. As I stumbled forward, flailing inelegantly, I tried to recover my balance. The dress had other ideas and finally won the war it had been waging against me all evening.
My foot tangled again, momentum carried me backwards, and before I could stop myself, I landed heavily in the enormous chair positioned behind me.
I just sat there, wondering whether my dignity had finally packed its belongings and left. Then reality caught up and slowly, very slowly… I looked down to see exactly where I had landed.
But of course…
It was his throne.