The important part was that it had been effective, even if he managed to extricate himself from it. She carried her pleased smile with her as she returned to her perch, carefully out of his way again.

"So what do you do on the island?" she asked. "Do you have a shop? I realized the only way I knew to reach you was to go to your home."

And you could understand why she had refused to do that as a step too far.