Ludwig pet the feline and said, "It found me, not the other way around. Salem was stuck in this book back at Tibari, right next to The Gluttonous Death. Though that guy seemed uninterested with it. What does it matter to you?"
Salem arched into his palm with a neat, unhurried stretch, fur cool and impossibly smooth beneath his fingers, like stroking shadow given a coat. The creature's eyes slitted in pleasure, then opened into two thin coins of gold that watched everything and gave away nothing.
Ludwig's tone stayed mild, but his thumb moved once more behind the ear, thoughtful as much as affectionate. He was aware of the lantern's faint, prickled hum, the way all confined pride vibrates when faced with something it cannot catalog.
"Hmph, pearls on swine… you don't even understand what you have."
