She smiled and nodded slightly:
"Yes, I'm not someone without a fixed abode. Obviously, Sin Mansion in Miburg was merely a visit to an old friend I had not seen for a long time. Someone summoned me to the shores of Dark Lake in the Heart of Pantanal, and at the demon manor in Randall River Valley, you were the one who called for my help. As for Green Lake several months ago..."
The speaking Purple Eyes gazed at Shade affectionately, though that expression clearly belonged to Leisha:
"You wanted to learn a lady's secret, so I had no choice but to appear."
"So after leaving Coldwater Port, you had actually been in Moon Bay all along?"
Shade asked. She smiled again, but this time only curved her lips soundlessly:
"Traveling south along the coastline from Coldwater Port, I discovered, in these warm waters, this Countess who had heard stories of me long ago and used my power. So one night, I took the initiative to appear before her. Since then, I have temporarily settled in the waters of this harbor, only occasionally going elsewhere to sample other sweets."
Her pale left and right arms rested together atop the reef, one overlapping the other. Her head lay upon her folded arms, droplets sliding one after another from her hair. Her water-beaded eyelashes became ever more enchanting. Yet even so, Shade still could not see her shoulders.
"What a wonderful place this is—a city of wealth, a City of Desire. It is the city most suited to me in this era. I plan to remain here for a hundred years, so I have been very restrained and have not done anything here to frighten the poor mortals."
That was probably the truth. Countess Dalmanin did not look like someone who had