Sin Rouge slept unevenly that night.
Somewhere below, someone was shouting in a bar, music thudded, laughter rolled in waves but on the highest floor, in Malerion's apartment, the world narrowed to two people and a single decision.
Verosika was still leaning against his chest.
She didn't say anything.
Didn't need to.
His hand rested on her back not tightly, not hesitantly, just… naturally. As if it had been there for a long time.
The warmth between them didn't fade.
If anything, it deepened.
Malerion broke the silence first, calm, but lower than usual.
"Verosika."
Her voice, surprisingly soft:
"Hm?"
"If we say yes to this, there's no taking it back."
She didn't pull away.
Instead, she lifted her head and looked him in the eyes close, too close like someone who already knew the answer but still asked.
"Would you regret it?"
"No."
Her lips twitched.
"Then why ask?"
"Because I want you to step into this knowing exactly what you're doing," he replied.
"Not because the moment carried you away. Not because the adrenaline of battle is still in the air. But because… you chose it."
His honesty struck her harder than hands, harder than chaos, harder than battles ever had.
Because in Hell… very few people were given a choice.
She wanted to answer with words.
But instead, her fingers slowly brushed his jaw, then traced the line of his neck, as if checking whether he was really there, whether this wasn't a dream or a fantasy.
"Malerion," she said quietly.
"Yes?"
"I choose."
It wasn't the whisper of an uncertain girl.
It was the statement of a woman who had survived Hell and returned stronger.
His hand slowly shifted from her back to her hip
not pulling, not demanding, only asking.
She didn't step back.
On the contrary she stepped closer.
Now there was no distance between them.
Their breaths intertwined.
Then, very slowly, Verosika raised her hand and touched his lips with a single finger.
She didn't kiss him right away.
Instead, she let the tension ripen.
"Say you want me," she whispered.
Malerion didn't blink.
"I don't have to."
"Why?"
"Because you already know."
Her smile was dangerously soft.
"Maybe I want to hear it."
Malerion leaned closer, his forehead touching hers.
"I want you," he said quietly.
"Not temporarily. by accident. Or as an impulse."
A pause.
"As a choice."
The words struck her like an electric pulse.
And this time, she was the one who closed the distance first.
Their lips met not like an explosion of chaos, but like something held back for a long time, deliberately, with purpose and desire.
The kiss began slowly.
But it quickly became something more deeper, surer, intense.
His hand slid into her hair.
Her fingers gripped his shirt.
The world disappeared.
There was no Watcher.
wars. politics.
There was only them.
When they finally pulled apart, both were breathing faster but not nervously.
Consciously.
The decision had been made.
Verosika lifted his chin with her fingers and whispered:
"Turn off the light."
Malerion didn't move right away.
He looked into her eyes, searching for the same thing as before.
Certainty.
She nodded a small, real gesture.
Only then did he reach for the panel.
The light slowly faded.
This wasn't the end.
It was the beginning.