Page 113 of Angel's Flight

“It’s against my nature to stay.To rest and retreat into a small, simple life.That’s how she sees me.Maybe better than I see myself.”Erik took a deep breath.“So that’s what I gave her as my punishment.”

“What?”Christine blinked in confusion as Erik’s golden eyes met hers.

“I offered her my suffering.My imprisonment in the ordinary,” Erik replied, soft and sincere.“I told her I would do the thing most abhorrent to me if that pain would satisfy her vendetta.I promised her I would give up running.”

Christine stifled a gasp, glancing to where Pauline stood idly in the glen, ignoring them and unable to hear what they said.No wonder she looked so pleased with herself.

“You promised her...”

“That I would stay here, in this pathetic shithole of a village, and allow myself to be forgotten.I promised to take on the punishment of trying to live in a world that hates me and that I despise in return.”

Christine didn’t hold back her tears.They flowed hot down her cheeks as her husband gripped her hands.“We’re staying?Because she thinks it’s a punishment for you?”

Erik smiled at the edge of his mask, sly and warm.“She is not aware of how much I can enjoy punishment when it’s for you.”

“You should have told me,” Christine whimpered as she pulled him into a fierce hug.She fit perfectly against him, his chin atop her head as he wrapped her in his arms.“I’ve been so worried.”

“I didn’t want something to go horribly wrong...Fuck.”

Christine pulled back to look at whatever Erik had seen, and her stomach plummeted.Bidaut had arrived, as Pauline had promised, but Shaya Motlagh was with him at gunpoint.“Fuck,” she whispered as well.“We have to—”

Erik held her back from rushing into the clearing.“Wait,” he hissed, gaze intent on the trio in the circle.“I want to see what she does.”

Christine shook, worry vibrating in her gut as Erik’s hand steadied her and they watched.

“You look like shit.What the hell happened to you?”Bidaut demanded of Pauline without ceremony.

“I ran into trouble.”She touched the vivid bruise on her cheek and looked sheepish.“I may have tried to negotiate with our target on my own.”

“You absolute idiot,” Bidaut growled.Shaya merely chuckled beside him, drawing Pauline’s attention.

“Is this who I think it is?”Pauline asked, looking Shaya over.

“He’s our leverage,” Bidaut snapped.

“Well, it’s useless now.Erik is gone,” Pauline said, and Christine held her breath.The woman was a skilled liar, but there was something in the way she said it that was too nervous.

Bidaut heard it too.“What do you mean he’s gone?”

“I found him.Tried to negotiate and failed.”Pauline indicated her injuries.Christine was only slightly annoyed to not receive proper credit for them.“I was lucky to escape alive, but I don’t know where he disappeared to.We should go back to Pomeroy and tell him it’s over.”

Bidaut stared at the woman, as did Shaya.Did they know she was lying?Would this ruse work?“That’s a pity,” Bidaut began slowly.“I was quite sure having leverage Erik cared about rather than manipulating some old man in a forgotten town might actually get us somewhere.”

“My plan was sound,” Pauline sneered.

“Your plan was useless, it seems.”Bidaut looked over at Shaya and sighed.“As are you.I guess if this is over, there’s no reason to keep you around.”

Shaya’s look of relief lasted only until Bidaut cocked his pistol and aimed it at Shaya’s temple.

“What are you doing?”Pauline gasped.

“Testing a theory.At least it won’t be hard to hide a body in wilderness like this—”

“Stop!”Erik yelled before Christine could do the same.They rushed together from the trees, stopping short when Bidaut aimed the revolver at them.

“Ah, there you are,” Bidaut smiled.“Right on time.”

“I did try,” Pauline muttered with a sigh to Christine.Erik stood tall at Christine’s side, angling himself between her and Bidaut’s weapon.

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