Vane found her on the clock tower a little after sunset, legs hanging over the edge the way they always were, a bag of roasted chestnuts open beside her that she was clearly not going to offer him any of.
"You're late," she said, not turning around.
"Late for what?"
"I don't know. I just like saying it. Makes you feel guilty about something." She patted the stone next to her without looking. "Sit. You're blocking my view of absolutely nothing, which is very rude of you."
He sat. The island spread out below them, lights coming on one by one across the hill, the ocean gone the color of a bruise where the sun had already dropped behind it. Somewhere down in the villas, Mara would be starting dinner about now, and Ashe would be arguing with Valerica about something that didn't matter, and none of them knew he was up here, and that was sort of the point of coming up here in the first place.
