Maintaining his pace, he glanced over his shoulder, his silver eyes meeting striking tawny ones. His unspoken contrition must have shown, for Phenex’s expression softened, one corner of his mouth twitching into a lopsided grin. Relief washing over him at the telltale sign of forgiveness, the daemon returned his smile in kind, before facing forward once again.
Gwen continued to walk along beside him, completely unaware of the silent exchange that had passed between the two beings, the teen appearing to be concentrating all of her energy into putting one foot in front of the other.
Convincing himself that she probably just needed a good night’s rest, that she’d be back to her regular self in no time and there was no cause for concern, Forneus’ thoughts wandered to other matters, his eyes only vaguely taking in the shifting of the colours surrounding them as they continued toward a split junction on the walkway.
It wasn’t until a few minutes after they headed down a path on the left that Gwen broke the silence, the daemon observing the way her eyes flitted from him to the auburn-haired being at her right, and back again, her pale cheeks taking on a rosy hue as she kept pace with them both. “So, if Forneus is the guardian of the artifacts,” she hesitated a moment, peering at Phenex out of the corner of her eye, “Then what does that make you?”
Sensing that he was far more likely to make a smart remark than give an honest answer, Forneus cut in smoothly. “Phenex is actually a high-ranking, elite agent of the Regulations Force, First Unit; however, he serves as a solitary foot soldier.” He looked down at Gwen, adding with a wink, “This is because he doesn’t play well with others.”
This elicited a giggle from her, the teen quickly putting a hand over her mouth when the human firebird turned his burning glare from her to Forneus, the daemon unable to stop the grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. In truth, he was relieved; teasing Phenex had simply been a bonus—hearing Gwen laugh after all that had happened, even if it was only the tiniest bit, counted as a positive omen, in his books.
“Don’t encourage the girl.” Phenex muttered, his eyes flashing in irritation.
“This girl has a name, you know.” The teen scowled, “It’s Gwen—Gwenyth Lamelle.”
“I didn’t ask, and nor do I care.”