Aubranael blinked at her, nodded, and said nothing for a moment. ‘I… it is intolerable cheek on my part, but I have come here seeking your aid.’
Sophy’s brows went up in surprise. She had struggled to guess at his reasons for coming to her shop, but that he might be in need of something from her had not crossed her mind. ‘By all means, you need only ask,’ she said.
Aubranael’s expression softened, and he looked at her with a glow of approval which brought the colour back into her face. ‘Ah, I should have known that you would be everything that is generous!’ he said. ‘Even in spite of my—’ he stopped. ‘But you have forbidden that topic, and so away with it! The favour I seek is on behalf of Lihyaen.’ He smiled affectionately at the princess, who stood stroking Felebre’s soft-furred head a
