Nero arched an eyebrow, his eyes locked on Ephram as the man's lips pressed against the glass and he tilted the crystal. Their eye contact maintained even as the long lines of Ephram's throat rippled with his swallow and the glass lowered before him.

"I'm glad you approve," Nero replied evenly and swirled his own glass before setting it back on the table. He reclined back in his chair languidly, with the grace of a man used to power, and smirked. As Ephram swirled his glass again, Nero's eyes closed. When his eyes reopened, they were fixated on Ephram's lips.

"You've missed a bit," Nero commented idly, the edge of his own tongue darting out in phantom reponse to the light film of blue on Ephram's lower lip.