Ravensblood Forest brief encounters

"Codlata," Bazi repeated slowly, shuffling into the square created by his four long limbs. She hesitated there for a moment, looking down at Tiarnán's dark face. In the gloom of the forest, it was difficult to see anything except faint white reflections in his red-brown eyes. Darkness was as much his ally as it was her nemesis; she felt suddenly exposed, every expression plainly visible even in the half-light.

Gently, she lowered her lithe little body next to his, curling into a loose ball with her nose pressed against one dark foreleg. With Ferdie, she took liberties - the daylight would often find her splayed unladylike across her adoptive father's body, legs pointing in all directions. Here, she was suddenly conscious of every limb. They were complete strangers, cuddled up in a forest that belonged to neither of them, in the shadow of a viscous wolf's domain.

"Bazi and Tiarnán codlata," she murmured, finally allowing exhaustion to dull her mind.