Ariana POV
Her arms wound around Dimitri while he washed his hands. The water ran nonstop, droplets flying in the air like crystals as Dimitri scrubbed and rinsed. After about the third wash, Ariana shut off the faucet. "I think that's enough."
"That's two bodies I abandoned today," he muttered, leaning into her touch and her embrace, allowing her to dry his hands with a towel monogrammed with the hotel name.
"You didn't really have a choice. If they stopped the train ..."
"I know. I know. But with this, I had a choice."
She kissed his shoulder. "You didn't like this solder, Talivere."
"Beside the point," he muttered. "He didn't do anything."
Shrewdly, she heard what he left unspoken. "Maybe not tonight, but he's done other things. He wasn't a spy for you--"
"He'd have pulled out my fangs several time if he could over the years," Dimitri snarled.
