Alcuin couldn't help the laughter that bubbled forth from his lips at the thought of his friend sowing so much chaos in his name. It gladdened him to know that there were still those who would punish the ones who dared to sully his beloved's reputation with slanderous accusations, even if it was only a handful of jewels. Anafiel Delaunay was more priceless than any gemstone in the world – and now he was gone, lost to the ether from whence the vampires first came. Alcuin would have torn down the sky if it meant seeing him one last time. A handful of jewels would just have to do. “Incorrigible, you are! They ought to post signs about you, diavoletto.”
“Of course they would be boring – anything would bore a person that has heard it all too many times before.” Alcuin resisted the urge to bow his head, humility staining his cheeks a comely shade of pink at the press of his friend's lips against his cheek. It was less the soft skin of his lips than it was the sensation of his friend's smile – devastatingly infectious once he'd well and truly decided to get going – that made his heart swell with affection. “You've always been quite the naughty one,” he glanced briefly at his friend with a look altogether too sly for his countenance. “It's just a matter of being naughty in all the right ways, I've found.”