They had gone less than a hundred paces when Seraphine stopped.
"You noticed," she said, not looking at him, "that it never once tried to separate us."
Hezekiah slowed beside her, gaze tracking the darkened bank ahead. The river was no longer in sight, but he could still feel its pull, like a held breath behind his eyes.
"That wasn't caution," he said. "That was assessment."
'He's one hell of a cautious and clever one,' he thought, brows knitting as they moved away from the riverbank.
The presence they had been answering to had withdrawn completely now. No pressure. No ripple. No trace left behind.
It wasn't gone. But they knew it was watching from somewhere else.
They continued on in silence. The reeds thinned, giving way to a narrow stretch of open ground bordered by low brush an
