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But when Rosalie crept back to his side, she was smiling. He smiled back instinctively, although he didn’t know what she was so happy about.

“Come on,” she whispered as she slid her hand into his and grasped it.

She didn’t flinch at the feel of the strange hair covering him, and he gripped her back strongly. It had been years since anyone had held his hand, and his insides warmed at the contact. There was something about the gesture that conveyed affectionate trust, and while Rosalie might have done it without thought or meaning, his chest still leaped in response.

She tugged him after her, only stopping when they reached the end of the hedge furthest from the intruders. She gave him one last mischievous smile before raising her voice to call loudly.

“Come on!” she cried clearly, her voice ringing across the garden. “Let’s go this way!”

The muted sound of the intruders instantly stopped.

Rosalie’s hand tightened, and she pulled him past the edge of the hedge, running for a group of nearby bushes. She plunged into the middle of them with abandon, dragging him with her. Not worrying about the branches tearing at her dress or the leaves catching in her hair, she pulled them through to the other side.

“Can you hear them?” she whispered, and he strained to listen.

The men’s voices had ceased, but he caught the crunch of their feet on the gravel as they attempted to creep beside the carefully trimmed hedge. He raised his eyebrows at Rosalie, and she nodded.

“Look at that statue!” she called loudly and pulled him out of the bush.

They made another mad dash across open ground, plunging into a small cluster of trees. The trunks grew close together, providing just enough protection to keep them out of sight. Rosalie looked up at him and clapped her free hand over her mouth, holding back a giggle.

He grinned, shaking his head. She really was irrepressible. Did she feel no fear?

“It was this way,” one of the men said quietly from the edge of the bush. “Can you see a statue anywhere?”

“A fountain!” Rosalie called again, startling Dimitri. “Just past the willow!” She pointed through the trunks to an ancient willow. Its thick, trailing branches created a dense shield, although it didn’t extend all the way to the ground.

“Your turn,” she whispered in his ear, her breath sending shivers across his skin. “Hopefully the bird will do its job, and then you can scare them away. Just make sure you keep your face and hands out of sight.” She shoved him in the direction of the willow.

He ran, trying to make as little noise as possible. He didn’t quite understand her plan, but he grasped enough to conceal himself behind the willow’s draping branches.

He could barely see anything through the trailing leaves, but he managed to make out two shapes approaching the willow slowly.

“Careful now,” one of them murmured. “We don’t want to be spotted.”

“We just need to get a glimpse of her so we can be sure before we tell the boss she’s here,” the other man said. “If we report it wrong, he’ll dock our pay for sure. There’s no reason to be so worried. We haven’t broken in anywhere. Even if they catch us, who’s to say we’re not locals come to have a poke around the beautiful garden?”

The other snorted, and Dimitri was tempted to do the same. From what he’d seen of Jace’s men, none of them were the sort to stop and smell the roses, and he doubted anyone would be foolish enough to think it.

But what was Rosalie wanting him to do? And what did she think the bird was going to do?

A flash of color exploded from one of the willow’s branches, flying toward the men in a rustle of fluttering green leaves.

“A beautiful willow!” it called in the disconcerting impression of Rosalie’s voice that it had used when it called Dimitri a coward.

The closest man shouted, throwing up his hands to shield his face.

“A bird!” the other exclaimed in disgust. “Was it one of those wretched creatures the whole time?”

“Cluttered loafbrain!” the parrot screeched in its normal voice. “Scruffy porcupine! Bedraggled pincushion!” It added its chuckling cry as it circled their heads just out of reach.

“That filthy creature fooled us on purpose!” the first man howled.

Dimitri recognized his cue. He stepped forward, stopping just behind the willow’s leaves. They still concealed his upper body, but his legs were left exposed. Thankfully, his boots and clothes concealed the changes to his body.

“I suggest you leave my garden immediately,” he growled loudly and slowly, letting the threat hang in the air.

Both men flinched violently, one giving a shout of surprise as he spun to see Dimitri lurking there, mostly out of view.