The night was cool and particularly silent. The city seemed asleep under a starless sky, and the dark mass of the church stood out among the surrounding rooftops.
A light wind swept between the stones of the buildings before descending into the street where a few oil lanterns cast circles of yellowish light on the damp cobblestones. Kaiser was sitting on the edge of the slate roof, his mask pushed up on his forehead, leaving his face exposed to the night air as he contemplated the surrounding calm.
Eleanor stood beside him, arms crossed. She maintained her usual haughty posture, her angular and tanned face seeming to capture the faint moonlight. Her gaze swept over the city spread out at their feet. Finally, she turned her head toward Kaiser, and her eyes, sharp with coldness, settled on him.
"I imagined you uglier," she declared in a voice tinged with a hint of disappointment. "Is that why you always wear that mask?"
