Hearing the door open, Miss Bayes turned around in the darkness. Seeing that it was Shade, she gave him an apologetic smile.
"I couldn't sleep tonight, so I wanted to watch the rain."
She set her teacup on the windowsill. Her slightly hoarse voice blended perfectly with the sound of rain in the background.
"This place of yours really is nice. I was worried about waking you all, so I came to this room to watch the rain. I'm always so busy; opportunities like this are rare."
"Be careful not to catch a cold."
Shade kindly reminded her. After hesitating for a moment, he did not turn and leave. Instead, he walked into the room and came to the window as well.
Outside the living room windows of both rooms lay Saint Derain Square. Though the gas lamps in the square were still lit, in this rain their light had become only warm yellow halos, unable to illuminate the vast stretches of darkness across the square.
The raindrops moved densely down the windowpane before them like tiny tadpoles. Amid the pattering rain, Shade noticed writing on the glass in front of Miss Bayes, traced with her finger using the condensation from her teacup.
It was not a modern language, but before Shade could make it out, Miss Bayes reached out and wiped it away.
"Are you worried about tonight?"
Miss Annette was the oldest of the three, and Shade, an Outlander, had experienced far too much as well. Only this seventeen-year-old girl still seemed somewhat inexperienced. Shade worried that the pressure might give her troubling thoughts.
"If I said I wasn't worried at all, that would definitely be impossible. But mainly... I've been thinking about the Chosen One."
She looked at the window.
"To be honest, I never imagined that