the destroyer .

     “For all they know, this IS my normal behavior,” Eliot whispered, leaning into her as she pushed past him. He fumbled to take her hand while she grabbed his sleeve instead to pull him into a narrow hallway. Stumbling for a second, he fell into step with her quickly.      “Go somewhere private to get naughty?” he said, a little louder than was strictly necessary, hoping whoever followed Margo would hear it and not be too intrigued by the prospect of watching. “Brilliant idea, Bambi.”

     Once they she stopped, Eliot stood as close to her as he could and put his hands on her shoulders. There wasn’t just little space, he was also hoping this way their conversation could be quiet enough nobody could hear them.      “So, who are we hiding from? There’s just us and the royal guards, Tick– is it Tick?” Eliot narrowed his eyes slightly but the expression on Margo’s face told him this was serious. “What’s going on?”

He was probably right in assuming that they didn’t know how he would normally behave --- but Margo wasn’t going to take her chances until she was sure that they were safe. They had worked too hard to maintain their positions here & they weren’t about to let the fairies fuck shit up. Not so long as she was ruling, that is. 

“ That’s what I like to hear, my man ready to get naughty at any time !” She plays along with this charade, saying it loudly in the hopes that it will make those trailing even less likely to follow. People who didn’t know them better might be liable to think that they were already getting dirty in the sack with one another.

She lets some of the tension leave her when the hands come upon his shoulders. Somehow he was always her rock. The other half of her that reminded her to keep her head in the game & not lose all of her control. A world without him wasn’t one she wanted to think about.