Henri regarded the path before them. Part of him insisted it wasn't much; in fact, it served a purpose as something he could have chased his children up or strolled along, filling the air with sweet words for someone who had sparked his interest.

Case in point.

Another part of him insisted the incline had an unforgivable unkindness behind it, besides wishing quite a lot for Drake or Sabine to at least be following along, somewhere behind him and Sayer.

"Well," he said to a rather heavy step, "The thing about paths, at least human-made ones, is that they do have ends. And who knows? Perhaps they have a Persian rug up there."