_Author’s POV_
Vicky had been watching Pierre for the better part of two hours before she said anything.
She was good at watching, it was one of her more useful qualities, the ability to observe without appearing to observe, to track the details of a situation while looking like she was doing something else entirely. She had been ostensibly reading her book since the snake incident, but the book had not been turned to a new page in forty minutes and her eyes had not been on the text for most of that time.
She was watching Pierre watch Rowena.
Not obviously. Pierre was too composed for obviousness. But there was a quality to his attention when Rowena was in his line of sight, a slight orientation, the way a compass settles toward north, just consistent and present regardless o
