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Since I had no idea which room he’d chosen for the dining room, I just followed him. Conn and Mulan were already there and sipping drinks. Dylan was missing, but when Henry disappeared, I had a feeling my far darrig guest would be joining us shortly.

Figuring I deserved a break, I chose the end seat at the long table where Conn and Mulan sat side by side. They were chatting about their unique and delicious cocktails. A smiling demon hurried into the dining room with one for me on a tray. He set it in front of me and hurried off after acknowledging my thanks.

I didn’t imbibe often but something to dull my senses sounded good this evening. Maybe it would stop me from wondering if Rasmus would return before I had to hunt down Hisser without his help.

I lifted my drink to eye level to inspect it. Mine looked different from Conn’s and Mulan’s.

Conn smiled at me and held up his drink. “Frank is one of Henry’s bartenders-in-training. He hand-crafts each drink specifically for the individual he’s serving. No two drinks are alike. He asked if he could practice on us this evening and I agreed. I hope that was okay.”

“Is this drink going to leave me functional?” I asked.

Conn nodded and smiled. “Not only will it leave you functional but it will enhance your enjoyment of life. I believe Henry told him you’d been having a lot of headaches lately.”

I smiled back at Conn. “I’ve done the aspirin and liquor combo before. I suppose I’ll sleep well tonight.”

Trusting Conn was second nature to me so I lifted the drink and sipped. It tasted like pineapple but there was something slightly fizzy about it. I took several more sips before I forced myself to set it down. It was delicious and I could tell my eyesight had sharpened. It was like I’d been sick for a long time and my body finally realized I was well again.

I turned to Mulan who smiled and lifted her drink. “It’s good to see ya smiling again. Are ya feeling better about life now?”

She nodded and held my gaze. “I know I am not easy woman.”

“Neither am I. I wasn’t judging,” I said, waving her apology away. “Are ya enjoying yer drink?”

“I feel happy for first time in days.”

Grinning over that admission, I looked at Conn. “How’s yer drink?”

“It keeps me from wanting to kill people and things. I’m feeling quite peaceful.”

I chuckled at the oddity of our trio and picked up my tasty drink again. “He makes a tasty headache cure. Maybe I’ll ask Frank for one of those peaceful drinks next time.”

I heard myself say “next time” like I drank cocktails and ate in formal dining rooms every day. There was a real danger that I could get used to being pampered. I don’t know why I saw that as a bad thing, but I did.

Then suddenly I wondered who was buying the groceries. What was the deal with all of Henry and Gale’s people serving us? Were Henry and Gale using us to train them for hotel service?

“The short answer is yes—the demons here are in training. To answer your other concern, Mulan and I set up a budget to provide Henry and Gale with caretaking money. We used the money you gave us for the troll jobs. Henry’s going to take care of the utilities as well. I told him we wanted solar panels installed on the roofs of all the houses. That will be a huge selling point in five years,” Conn said, breaking into my musings.

My sigh was loud. “Ya can’t imagine how much it annoys me when ya extract things from my head, Conn. I’m thankful Henry knows a guy who can fix me.”

Conn laughed. “You’ll find Henry is very resourceful.”

“So long as his teacher shows me how to keep Rasmus and ya out of my head, I’ll be thrilled. I prefer to privately ponder my life and not broadcast my every stray thought.”

Dylan appeared at the doorway and stopped. Henry motioned to him to enter. The far darrig looked at the three of us strangely. An echo of my discomfort sat in his expression. I don’t think he’d seen all of smiling before.

Hating all this stuffy formality, I waved Dylan over to sit across from Conn and Mulan. “Come join us, Dylan. We’re having cocktails like rich people on television. Henry’s bartender is using us as guinea pigs tonight.”

Snorting at my teasing, Dylan sat in the chair across from Conn and Mulan. Sure enough, Frank soon appeared at his elbow and set a glass of liquid in front of him. Something thick and golden swirled in its depth.

The three of us watched him closely as the suspicious far darrig thanked Frank. Dylan took a sip, pondered it, and then took another. Surprising us into gasping, the far darrig grew in his seat, clothes and all. It was a slow and easy process, but ya could watch it happening. Dylan stared down at himself and then at his drink.

I laughed. “Yer cocktail was made to meet yer specific needs.”

Dylan ducked his head and shook it. “This is so strange, Aran. I haven’t been able to stop wondering if my size had anything to do with my failure to protect the relic.”

Mulan and I looked at each other, looked back at Dylan, and then burst out laughing. The far darrig’s head snapped up to stare at our rudeness.

I held up a hand. “Look at us, Dylan. Why would Mulan and I ever think ya being short had anything to do with what happened? Ya need to just accept that a thief stole yer relic and a wicked person drained the power from it. Ya could have been a giant and it wouldn’t have stopped them from taking its power.”