Aveline clutched Hamilton tighter, her heart hammering so hard she could feel it in her throat.
What was that?
Had the bigger creature come back? Was something else moving through the forest? The dark between the trees seemed to shift in a way that made her skin prickle.
She leaned forward and squinted into the blackness. "Do you see anything?" she whispered to Hamilton.
Hamilton only wagged his tail and blinked at her with a serene, almost smiling expression, as though he understood nothing she had said and was deeply unbothered by this fact.
Aveline huffed. "Useless."
And because he looked so harmless and oddly pleased with himself, she kissed the top of his head again.
To her surprise, he seemed to like that.
The little creature brightened immediately, tail swishing faster, wings fluttering in tiny excited motions that made him look absurdly proud of himself.
Aveline stared at him for a moment, then laughed under her breath.
