"Pine miserably for my attention, of course," he said flippantly with his usual bravado. Dorian didn't like the idea of being without him so he moved on to other thoughts. He was trying not to be fatalistic and believe he had found something worth hanging on to.

Dorian looked down at him, head tilted slightly to the side. Athras looked better, slightly lighter than when he had come in. They had made progress. That was better than he was expecting when he first started this.

"Why don't you come lie down with me? I promise not to take advantage of you." He added a wink at the end to show he was teasing.