At Kenryk’s mention of “adventure,” Kaukab’s energy suddenly multiplied a hundred-fold. Burnished gold lanterns flashed bright, hungry, agreement and desire honed into white-hot pinpointed intensity. “Adventure. Yes. Let’s do it.” His sparkling eyes flickered from his brother to his mother and back again, excitement building as it resonated within him. Unconsciously, the starry lad had started wiggling against his sibling, bumping Kenryk’s brindled shoulder as his childish energy reached critical mass. If Kab saw the faint scowl that crawled over his dam’s visage, souring her otherwise gentle expression, he did not encode it to memory. All that mattered was that Kahlan was smiling at him, and her smile was like a ray of sunshine softly warming his heart, and he appreciated her patience and her affection and for a moment Kaukab thought he might drown in how much he loved her.

When the earthen wolfess mentioned “hide and seek,” Kab yipped with fasciation even before Kahlan explained the game. “So we’ll hide, and you’ll be the seeker? If we hide very good, do we win?” Although the white-spattered lad had not yet grown a mean streak, he certainly possessed a competitive edge. Life was a challenge—and since Kaukab was extremely hard to frustrate, he tended to attack challenges with all his teeth bared in a massive smile. His tail sliced the air in a furious wag, mind already racing one million miles ahead regardless of what Kahlan said now. “Kenryk and I will find a very good spot to hide ourselves—and—and—I’ll sing a song while we hide, and that will tell us how long we’ve been hiding for, and if we hide for too long we’ll come out and seek YOU!” He hopped on his forepaws, bouncing in place. Rules? What rules? Kaukab would make his own rules—that would make for a more interesting game, anyway. His mother was smart enough to follow. Kahlan was the smartest person in the whole world.

“Let’s go!” Kab sprinted from the den opening, long legs flying over the ground. He made sure to allow Kenryk to catch up, obviously; Kaukab always thought of his striped sibling as the “leader.” Kenryk might not know this . . . after all, the boys did everything together, and to an outsider there really wasn’t a pattern to their madness. Neither pup ever bullied the other, or overtly took over a dominant role. They were the perfect team, always. But maybe sometimes Kab trusted his brother to do things first, and show him where to go—and that’s exactly how he felt now. If anyone could choose the best hiding place, it was Ken.

So exuberant was the russet-dashed prince that he nearly ran into the legs of a complete stranger. He skidded to a hasty halt just in time, nose narrowly avoiding a pair of . . . snakes? Bi-colored eyes scanned upward, astonished to find a pallid femme being supported by four scaled limbs. She grinned down at him, narrowing honey-colored eyes lined by smoky black. “S-sorry . . .” Kaukab stammered, inching around her. “I have to . . . I’m busy with . . . I’m playing hide and seek!” And then he was galloping back toward the forest, hoping Kenryk wasn’t as distracted by the stranger as he.