Aveline returned to the carriage, still trying to settle the strange unease that had crawled beneath her skin.
A few minutes later, Theron came back.
With pebbles.
Not one or two, but a whole handful of smooth stones gathered from the riverbank, as though he had decided the evening would be incomplete without them. Aveline stared at him in bafflement as he stepped into the lamplight, the candle glow catching in his eyes and making him look, absurdly enough, exactly like the boy she used to know.
He held the stones out to her.
"For you," he said.
Aveline took them slowly, still looking at him like he might explain himself at any moment.
Then he dragged her out of the carriage, and reached behind his cloak with dramatic flair and drew out something else.
Aveline blinked. "A stick?"
Theron's expression brightened at once.
"How did you know?"
"I made a wild guess," she said, though the smile tugging at her lips was already betraying her.
