The ladies never suggested that Shade move out and find a larger place in the city. After all, they all knew how attached he was to this house. He could never give up 6 Saint Derain Square.
That evening, Siris was also invited to stay the night, though she went to Room Two on the 2nd Floor with Luvia. Luvia claimed that she wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with Siris, but the Girl with Purple Eyes simply knew what the Duchess intended to do.
Sure enough, when passion rose that night, the silver, burning moon-shaped Eternal Fire Mark that automatically appeared on Galina Cavendish's right arm immediately caught Vanessa's attention.
Once she learned the effects of Shade's thaumaturgy, she too, like the other young ladies, asked Shade to leave the same mark on her. This time, Galina did not even need to "hold her hostage"; Vanessa voluntarily held out her arm to Shade.
Things had gone so smoothly that early the next day, Monday, while everyone in the house was washing up, Galina quietly asked Vanessa:
"Have you never considered asking Shade to leave the Fire Seal somewhere else on your body?"
The blonde lady, who was drawing her eyebrows before the Dressing Table, gently shook her head.
"I haven't. I know Shade doesn't like strange marks appearing on us, so my arm is enough.
Galina, do you think it would look better if I made my eyebrows longer? I need to conceal how well I look right now, or the girls in the troupe will gossip."
"They all look good."
Galina answered perfunctorily. Yet this perfectly natural response, in Vanessa's eyes, sent the Duchess into self-doubt.
"Does Vanessa understand Shade better than I do?"
That self-doubt did not last long. The atmosphere of the family sitting around the