Chap­ter XV begins on the tran­quil and snow-cov­ered land­scape of The Cotswolds, Eng­land, on the eve of the 20th cen­tu­ry. Addie, seek­ing peace in the iso­la­tion of a remote cot­tage, finds solace in the qui­et still­ness that envelops her. Unlike her pre­vi­ous years filled with the live­ly fes­tiv­i­ties of Lon­don, Paris, Edin­burgh, and Ams­ter­dam, this win­ter night in the Cotswolds rep­re­sents a rare moment of soli­tude. Though the cot­tage is not tru­ly hers by own­er­ship, it has become a tem­po­rary sanctuary—a place where she has learned to find com­fort in its mod­est sur­round­ings over the sea­sons. Addie has long since adapt­ed to the sim­plic­i­ty of the cot­tage, but tonight, as she gazes out over the fresh­ly fall­en snow, the pure, untouched land­scape beck­ons her to step into the cold night. It’s a rare moment when she feels the allure of the world out­side, as the qui­et, blan­ket­ed land­scape offers a sense of renew­al and clar­i­ty.

Clad in a cloak, Addie steps into the snow-cov­ered night, her pres­ence leav­ing only the faintest trace upon the pris­tine sur­face. The cool, crisp air fills her lungs as she walks through the fresh snow, and the sight of the untouched land­scape stirs mem­o­ries from her child­hood in Vil­lon. She mar­vels at how lit­tle has changed in the years since—how the snow remains as pure and unmoved as it once was, even though her life has been any­thing but sta­t­ic. For a brief moment, she is able to put aside the weight of her cen­turies-long exis­tence and sim­ply rev­el in the beau­ty of the snow-cov­ered world before her. The sim­plic­i­ty of the scene tempts her to for­get the bur­dens of time, to embrace the fleet­ing joy that the snow offers. But as she steps fur­ther into the snow, she los­es her foot­ing, tum­bling to the ground. A burst of laugh­ter escapes her lips, but the mirth quick­ly fades as she lies still in the snow, con­tem­plat­ing the deep qui­et around her. The peace of the night set­tles over her, and she becomes lost in the seren­i­ty, only to be remind­ed of her own soli­tude and the years that stretch end­less­ly behind her.

Her reflec­tive moment is inter­rupt­ed when Luc unex­pect­ed­ly appears, find­ing her lying in the snow. His pres­ence, as always, is a com­plex mix of famil­iar­i­ty and mys­tery. There is a weight to his arrival, a reminder of the pact they share, one that binds them in ways both com­fort­ing and unset­tling. Luc’s abil­i­ty to find her in such a remote place speaks to the depth of their con­nec­tion, which stretch­es across time and space. He effort­less­ly guides her back into the warmth of the cot­tage, and with a sub­tle wave of his hand, rekin­dles the fire in the hearth. Their con­ver­sa­tion begins in the qui­et warmth of the room, full of unspo­ken under­stand­ing and the com­fort­able silence that comes with years of shared his­to­ry. Luc, as always, stirs some­thing in Addie—a mix of yearn­ing and resis­tance, a feel­ing of being pulled between two worlds. He reminds her of the vibrant, end­less life she could have if she chose to leave her soli­tude and once again step into the broad­er world. But Addie, ever defi­ant, insists that the con­tent­ment she has found in her soli­tude is enough. She choos­es peace over the thrill of the unknown, pre­fer­ring the qui­et moments she has carved out for her­self to the allure of adven­ture.

Luc, how­ev­er, stays, as if there’s no hur­ry, and their inter­ac­tion shifts into some­thing deep­er. They share more than just words; it’s a moment of under­stand­ing, a pause in time where the weight of their cen­turies-long rela­tion­ship hangs in the air. As they sit by the fire, Addie allows her­self to lis­ten, not to argue or resist but to sim­ply be present in his com­pa­ny. Luc speaks of the world beyond her cot­tage, of the places and peo­ple she could once again touch, and she finds her­self intrigued despite her­self. For a moment, she is con­tent to sit and absorb his sto­ries, the warmth of the fire con­trast­ing with the cold, snowy night out­side. But as dawn approach­es, and she wakes up alone, there is a strange empti­ness in the room. The com­fort of the fire is gone, replaced by a qui­et unease. Luc’s vis­it, though sooth­ing in its famil­iar­i­ty, leaves her with more ques­tions than answers. The snow out­side, still fresh and unspoiled, offers no clar­i­ty, only a con­tin­u­a­tion of the same end­less cycle. She won­ders if this brief encounter with Luc was tru­ly a moment of peace or mere­ly anoth­er reminder of the pas­sage of time, a reminder that no mat­ter how much she tries to carve out mean­ing in her life, the forces that bind her are always just beneath the sur­face.

The chap­ter encap­su­lates a time­less moment between Addie and Luc, a fleet­ing pause in an oth­er­wise eter­nal exis­tence. Their shared his­to­ry is rich with com­plex­i­ty, filled with both com­fort and ten­sion. This chap­ter speaks to the para­dox of their relationship—Addie’s deep yearn­ing for both free­dom and con­nec­tion, and Luc’s pres­ence, which both anchors her to the past and reminds her of the pos­si­bil­i­ties of the future. Despite her refusal to leave her cho­sen soli­tude, Addie’s inter­ac­tion with Luc chal­lenges her under­stand­ing of time and con­nec­tion. It rais­es ques­tions about her choic­es, her desires, and her strug­gle to define her place in a world that moves for­ward while she remains sus­pend­ed in time. The snow, once a sym­bol of puri­ty and peace, now feels like a reminder of the tran­sience of moments, the fragili­ty of human expe­ri­ence, and the eter­nal dance between Addie and Luc, where noth­ing remains sta­t­ic, and every­thing is con­tin­u­al­ly in flux. The night they share, though brief, becomes anoth­er lay­er in their com­plex rela­tion­ship, a moment that will linger in Addie’s mind as she con­tin­ues her jour­ney through time.