The puppy’s ears pricked up. He bounced eagerly at her heels, phasing in and out through her legs as she headed for the portal. The tree must have been listening in on the conversation, because when she stepped through, she found herself outside rather than back in Aodhan’s bedroom.
Noodle immediately bounded off to subject a patch of daisies to intensive sniffing. Cathy followed the dog, letting him roam where he would. Perhaps she should have put some kind of leash on the animal, but she had a hunch that the poor puppy hadn’t had much chance to explore freely, living as he had in Maeve’s court. Anyway, he didn’t show any inclination to charge off into the woods.
This is fine. She tried to enjoy the puppy’s clear delight, ignoring the slight hurt in her own heart.
It had been stupid to think, even for a second, that Aodhan might want her help. He was a powerful mage, after all, and she was just… herself. Plain, ordinary Cathy.
She shook her head, annoyed with her own pity party. What did it matter that she was never going to impress Aodhan? All that mattered was that he found a way to rescue Kevin. The most useful thing she could do was to give Aodhan space so that he could work.
So she did exactly that. She threw sticks for Noodle until her arm ached, and then—when the puppy finally collapsed in a contented, snoring heap—sat on a root, trying not to fret. The crow-cat swooped down a few times to preen her hair and see if she’d miraculously come into possession of any more cheese, but there was no word from Aodhan.
I am not going to go check on him. She fiddled with a fallen leaf, shredding it into tiny fragments. She would have gone back into the tree to get a book to read, but she didn’t want to risk touching anything else that Aodhan might prefer to keep private. She’d already spent enough time poking around his library without permission.
Just stay out of his way. He said he’d tell me if there was any news.
Of course, this was the man who’d absent-mindedly worked through the entire night. Still, Cathy was sure that he’d come find her if he made a breakthrough.
The crow-cat, once again investigating Cathy’s pockets in the spirit of eternal optimism, suddenly cocked her head. The little griffin let out an excited caw, leaping into the air. She swooped out of sight for a moment, then darted back to circle Cathy’s head.
“What is it?” Cathy slid off the tree root, spirits lifting. “Is it Aodhan? Has he found something?”
The crow-cat tugged at her hair, then darted away. Cathy followed her around the trunk of the tree, trying to keep the long black tail in sight.
“Aodhan?” she called. “It that you?”
At her heels, Noodle let out a low, rumbling growl. Cathy looked down in surprise, and found the puppy staring at something behind her, all the fur on his back standing on end.
“Oh good,” said a voice that was definitely not Aodhan’s, right in her ear. “There you are.”