"It won't last," Andrei murmured without thinking, a dare of a smirk crossing his face.

But only until Nora sat up and swiped sharp fingernails down his chest, more for effect than to do actual damage (he was right about the fact of its impermanence, it was just his attitude about it that she disagreed with).

"See what a caution he can be?" she asked Jack, rolling her eyes in a way to imply a sort of playful annoyance.