Chapter 6: Cael Morrow's Theory of Evander

Cael arrived at half past eleven with a paper bag of pastries and the particular energy of someone who had been awake since seven and wanted credit for it.

He stopped in the doorway of the sitting room. Seren was on the sofa with a sheaf of papers balanced on her knee and a pen in her non-splinted hand, making notations in a margin so small the letters were illegible at normal distances. She looked up. Cael looked at her. He looked at Evander, who was standing in the kitchen doorway with a mug and an expression that communicated, with some precision, that he was not going to explain anything.

"Hello," Cael said, with the warm and entirely undefended curiosity of someone who had decided this was interesting before he'd finished assessing it.