A minute later, a woman came over to their table carrying a tray filled with tiny glasses. She bent over and placed three of them on their table and said in a loud voice, “This is from Jason, the gentleman at that table.” She gestured with her head over her shoulder.
Terena looked over, her eyes landing on a man holding one of those tiny glasses, his brown eyes holding hers as he lifted his glass and nodded at her.
She blinked, her mouth dropping open in recognition. He was the opponent she’d fought earlier. Terena looked back down at the glasses in front of them, then up at Gabriol. “What is this?”
He shrugged, picking up one of the tiny glasses, the clear liquid inside sloshing at the lip. He put it to his nose and sniffed.
Terena picked one up, then looked back over at the man—Jason, the woman had called him—and he lifted the glass and tossed back the contents in one motion. Terena watched as he grinned, then set the glass down on the table.
“I think you drink it all at once,” she said to Gabriol when she turned back. Rydon came back then and sat down with a big sigh. He saw the glasses they were holding, another on the table and looked at them.
“What’s this?”
“We don’t know,” Terena said, then glanced over her shoulder at the Liodari, Jason. Rydon looked over, too, frowning when he saw all four men looking back at them. She saw the moment he recognized them, too, from the fights.
“But I think we’re supposed to drink it all at once,” she added, drawing his attention back to her. “That man, Jason, did that. So maybe we should?”
“Smells strong,” Gabriol said.
Terena looked over at Jason again, who was trying to seem like he wasn’t watching her, but failing. She lifted the glass to her lips and tipped it back, letting the liquid pour into her mouth.
It left a trail of fire down her throat, eyes bulging and watering. She coughed and Rydon clapped her back and she chanced a look at Jason. His entire table was laughing, heads thrown back like her death was the funniest thing they’d seen in an age.
“Gods that’s disgusting,” she said hoarsely when she could speak. She wiped at her eyes, still feeling the liquid slowly sliding down into her belly.
Rydon and Gabriol drank theirs at the same time. Rydon did much better than Terena had, coughing only a couple times, but Gabriol’s eyes watered like hers and he wiped at them several times before he could even speak.
They looked at each other at the same time and laughed, Terena’s chest protesting a bit as it still burned from the drink.
Rydon leaned back in his chair and shouted across at the men, “What the hell was that?”
Jason grinned, looking at Terena before shifting his eyes to Rydon. “Ambrosia,” he said, “the drink of the gods.”
Gabriol lifted his empty glass to him in salute.
“Did you like it?”
Surprised he’d spoken to her, Terena turned back to Jason and nodded with a smile. “After I got over the almost dying part. Aye, I liked it very much.”
He winked. “Good, you’re Spartan now.”
Terena laughed. “Is that all it takes?”
He shrugged. “We’re a welcoming people.”
Gabriol leaned across the table and muttered, “I think he’s flirting with you, Terena. You fighting with him turned him on, I guess.”
Terena flushed and swatted at him. Before she could reply, Sonah wedged through a few people in front of their table and smiled wide when she caught Terena’s eye. Croak came up behind her, looking green.
Terena caught sight of the woman who’d brought them the drinks and quickly stood, grabbing hold of her elbow before she disappeared. She ordered a round of Ambrosia drinks for their table, and ordered one for Jason’s table as well.
When she sat back down, Sonah was excitedly chattering about the dancing and the friends she and Croak had made.
Croak brought back two chairs, dragging them to their table between Gabriol and Rydon as the barmaid came back, setting the glasses down carefully on their table, then moving off to Jason’s table.
“This is something the Greeks call Ambrosia,” Terena said to Croak and Sonah. “You drink it all at once but—wait!” She reached across to Croak to stay his hand as he was about to toss back the drink. “It burns like fucking crazy. Just a warning.”
“Hey!” Jason yelled from his table.
