He's beating Toris again, and Eduard has had the good sense to leave the room, and Gilbert wasn't there to begin with, and Ravis steps forward, to do something incredibly brave and incredibly stupid, and she wraps her arms around him and scoops him up and stops him. He tries to push her arms away, and she pulls him closer. He gives up, she scoops him up and carries him off up the stairs while Ivan is still distracted.

Ravis turns to Elizabeta, when she sets him down on the floor next to her bed. He looks up at her balefully and asks "Why did you do that? I could have…"

"You couldn't have." She cuts him off quickly. She presses a kiss to his lips, and goes to move back, but he flings his arms around her neck and kisses her back, properly and hungrily.

They stop for breath, and he holds his face close to hers and says "Would…can we…do you want…" He trails off and blushes. Elizabeta knows what he wants and starts to strip both their clothes off in answer.

Later, when they're lying naked under the covers, he says, "I should have done it anyway." She lets the tears fall silently into his hair.