I cleared my throat. “But I have things to handle.”
“Of course,” he said.
I walked toward the front of the building with Sofia’s small claws digging into my jacket.
Brovish held out his hand toward the creature. “Sofia, she has to go. Come to me. I’ll give you a treat.”
She peeped and leaned against my neck.
“Laina will see you in nine days,” he told her gently. He reached up and carefully lifted the emberkit from my shoulder. Sofia fluttered her wings the entire time, her peeps escalating into full chirps.
Brovish lifted her up to eye level. “Laina will return. She made a promise.” He looked at me, still holding the emberkit between us. “You will return.”
It wasn’t really a question.
“Yes,” I said. “I do promise.”
His expression eased.
I walked to Bertha, and he stood by the entrance door, Sofia cradled in his arms, watching me go.
The gate opened when I punched in the code, and I drove through, watching in the rearview mirror as it closed behind me. The road stretched ahead, dark trees pressing in on both sides. Halfway toward the main road, it dawned on me that I hadn’t thought once about what I was leaving behind.
Only about what I was coming back to in nine days.
My phone buzzed before I’d made it to town. Seeing Brovish’s name, I pulled over.
He’d sent a photo of Sofia on his shoulder, her round face turned toward the camera, her wings flared.
His read,She says nine days is too long.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard. I should keep this professional.
I texted back,Tell her I agree.
Then I put the truck into drive and headed home to review my partner’s offer on the clinic.
CHAPTER FIVE
BROVISH
On the day Laina was supposed to start, I found Sofia sitting on Laina’s new desk like she owned it, which technically she might.
As if she’d known today was the day, the emberkit had taken up residence there sometime before dawn. I’d woken to find her perch empty and tracked her from my small cabin and through the facility by her faint glow. She’d flown straight to the office we’d set up for Laina and planted herself in the center of the desk.
She used to wait for me like that before I started bringing her to my cottage at night.
“You can’t stay there,” I told her.
Sofia peeped without looking at me.
I crossed the room and lifted her carefully, her round body warming my palms. She settled onto my shoulder with a resigned trill as I headed out to start morning rounds.
The east pasture needed checking first. The juvenile hearthmaw had been restless lately, pacing the fence line at odd hours. I wanted to see if he’d settled overnight.
I made it halfway across the yard before Sofia launched herself off my shoulder.
She flew back toward the building in a streak of orange, her small wings beating hard.
