"I was speaking poetically, of course," Pyotr insists (but was he? Was he really?). He watches, rapt, as Erik raises his wrist to his mouth, a shivering going all the way through him when he's let off with a simple kiss.

"If those are your conditions, I've no choice but to obey," he gives his consent, eyes shining and closer to lively than they've been since his arrival in Pumpkin Hollow. "But you will have me again soon, won't you? Andrey once told me that the body begins replenishing blood within 48 hours -- I know I'm not in the healthiest shape, but if the point is to drain me dry anyway..."