Palace corridors were warm with lamplight and cold with silence, every guard along them staring at the wall. Hajin walked them with his hands in his coat, a gold thumbprint still faintly warm on his palm.
Juna padded at his side, "I'm coming in with you, I'll sit under the desk and bite his ankles."
"The letter said alone, Mutt, and unbranded, I'm only managing one of those," he said.
A murmur rose from the ring on his finger, "Remember what the princess told you, kid, be afraid when he is kind."
The two guards at the study door crossed their halberds, then uncrossed them again when Juna bared her teeth.
"Tch, fine, I'll stay out here and scare the furniture," she grumbled, planting her back against the wall.
She caught his sleeve before he reached the handle, "Don't you dare kneel for anybody in there, Idiot, I'll bite you myself."
