Roman put down his suit case and rubbed his eyes. The day had been an endless agglomeration of meeting after meeting after meeting. He was pretty certain by now that purgatory was a never-ending board meeting. Probably about the efficiency of hell's heating system. Or something.
He sighed and turned to walk to the kitchen when he noticed something glittering on the living room table. He stepped around the big glass plate and gingerly picked up a lonely glass of champagne. In the middle of it, he spotted what could only be an engagement ring. His breathing stopped.
For some reason, he felt scared. He suddenly had a vision of how his life could have turned out if things had gone only a little differently. If he had never met Peter. If he hadn't been able to overcome his instincts. A world in which there was no Nadia, no hope, no nothing. Where he was just a bloodsucking monster damned to eternal life.
Strong arms closed around him from behind and he started breathing again. Peter rested his chin on the upir's shoulder and snuggled up close.
Wait a minute, Roman thought, How is he doing that?
He looked behind him and saw that Peter was standing on some sort of crate, allowing him to be on eye-level with the taller man for once. Roman felt like giggling.
"Not a word", Peter whispered threateningly in his ear.
"Unless the word is yes", the werewolf amended after a moment.
Roman looked up, met Peter's eyes and smiled.
"Yes", he said simply.
