Daemon changed into a wolf, and at top speed, he was able to scout the area and find an abandoned mining shack outside of Gorudo Hills. He returned to Fairy and scooped up her and their bags.

When he’d settled her into the shack on an old hay mattress, he made himself human again. Her eyes fluttered open. “Where are we?”

“Far enough away from where the ryuu attacked us that you’ll be safe.”

“Are you going now?”

“I don’t have to.”

“I wasn’t asking you to stay,” she said hoarsely. He handed her a canteen, and she sipped, capping it and laying it beside her when she was done.

“Everything you need is within arm’s reach,” Daemon said. “There are some crackers here, and your bag full of the stuff you foraged in Jade Forest. If I go now, and Sora and Broomstick are still at Paro Village, we can be back late tonight. But if we’re not—”

“They need you, too. Don’t worry about me.”

Daemon would worry anyway—a lot—but he bent down and kissed Fairy.

He almost missed his mark, and their lips met awkwardly. Closed and pressed a little too lightly.

Maybe this kiss was off because Fairy was weak.

Or maybe everything was fine between them, and Daemon was overanalyzing it. He did have a tendency to think too much.

“Bye, Wolfie,” Fairy said, already drifting back to sleep.

He spread a blanket over her and conjured some drapes over the broken windows to dim the sunlight streaming in. Before he left, Daemon kissed her softly on the forehead, and that one felt all right.

“Now sleep. And when you wake up, I’ll be back with Broomstick and Sora.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Watching Daemon descend as a wolf from the clouds was one of the most beautiful things Sora had ever seen. He looked like a blue streak of the aurora borealis in the dark sky, and she ran from where she stood on the tree house deck and scuttled down a rope ladder to meet him.

She wanted to throw herself at him as soon as he shifted into human form. But she managed to restrain herself and offered him a fist bump instead. “I’m so glad to see you again. I was beginning to worry.”

Daemon’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “Sorry I took so long.”

Sora searched behind him. She’d been so focused on her own feelings about Daemon that she hadn’t noticed he was alone. Alarm spiked in her chest. “Where’s Fairy?”

“We were attacked and both wounded.”

Sora gasped. “Tell me she’s all right.”

“She will be.” He toed a rock on the ground. “I was able to heal myself, but she wasn’t strong enough to make the trip.”

“Crow’s eye,” Sora said. “Who attacked you?”

“Where’s Broomstick?” Daemon asked, not so subtly changing the subject.