When they finished, Julian tipped them generously, and they departed with grateful smiles.
Once the door closed again, Lyanna chuckled.
"We're all so paranoid, we thought a girl bringing bath water might be an assassin."
"Better paranoid and alive than trusting and dead," Seraphine countered, though she was smiling too.
Julian returned to the window, his expression becoming thoughtful again.
"Get some rest," he told his daughters. "Wash, eat, sleep. We don't know when Skreek's messenger will arrive, and we need to be ready."
The three nodded in response and settled in for the evening.
Seraphine, Cassandra, and Lyanna took room thirty-four, leaving Julian alone in room thirty-three. He could hear them moving through the connecting door—the sound of water being poured, quiet conversation, the rustling of clothing as they prepared for bed.
