Kael made a sound Ren had never heard from him before.
It came up out of his chest rough and broken, and he turned his face toward the dark and dragged the back of his wrist across his eyes.
The tiger watched him do it. His tail curled once around his bandaged paw.
Ren sniffed hard and stared at the fire.
'Nope. Not crying. It's the smoke.'
"Okay," she said, when she trusted her voice again. "New rule. Nobody goes anywhere until sunrise." She pointed at Kael. "Not you." She pointed at the tiger. "And definitely not you."
Kael sat back down on the log.
The tiger glanced at the black trees behind him. For one awful second Ren thought he would go.
Then he lay down right where he was, at the very edge of the light, with his chin on his good paw and his eyes on the flames.
Ren fed another branch to the fire and sat down beside Kael, close enough that her shoulder touched his.
"He is thin," Kael said quietly.
"I know."
"He was never thin."
