“Beca—” I looked furtively around, then lowered my voice and hissed. “Because we at least are dragons and are capable of looking after ourselves.”
Caly lifted her chin. “Whereas we are meek females who are not?”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t say that. Wait, how did you even get past Nyx?”
She exchanged a glance with Nova, who giggled. “With magic a lot cleverer than your fake snoring ruse.”
“Hey!” Alaric pouted, already well into intoxication. “I thought that was pretty good.”
I frowned. “What do you know of that?”
“Enough,” she said, stepping over my fallen stool and scanning the bar. “So what are we drinking?”
I balked. “You’re not staying. Anyone could recognize you!”
“If you can, we can,” she said in a highly irritating sing-song voice.
“Absolutely not. Nyx will lay an egg if he finds you both missing.”
“And I suppose he won't bat an eye that you have brought the prince out into this city at night? He’s far more recognizable than I am.”
“Will you keep your voice down?” I hissed.
“Just let them have a drink,” Alaric slurred. His tolerance for the lethal spirit was less than Kol’s or mine. “You’re not going to carry them back to the inn…are you?”
Kol poured them each a measure of the aquatic ruin and slid them along the bar. “I think they deserve it for getting past the old grouch. And I would know—he’s been my jailer for months.”
“You mean Dragon Daddy,” I huffed, righting my stool and plunking back down at the bar.
Kol shot absinthe from his nose and howled in pain and laughter. “Shit, that burns! Where did Dragon Daddy even come from?”
I shrugged. “Don’t you think he’s been acting like it?”
Kol shuddered in horror. “I would rather not think of my brother in those terms, but whatever does it for you.”
“What’s wrong? You don’t want to imagine Zaria calling him daddy?” The prince barely held back a laugh.
Kol gagged.
In my peripheral vision, I watched as Caly picked up the small glass and sniffed the liquor, tentatively took a sip, and winced, shuddering hard.
“Ugh, how do you drink this?” she asked as Nova sniffed hers and scrunched up her face.
“It’s better if you don’t think about it too hard and just down it,” Kol said with almost a dreamy tone to his voice. “After one, the blissful fog will set into your brain, and you won’t think about too much anyway. From there it just gets easier with each one.”
Caly looked at the glass sharply again, then shrugged. “Fair enough.” Then she threw the whole thing back and banged the bar counter with her palm as she battled to swallow. A second behind her sister, Nova did the same. I was secretly impressed, but I would not be showing it. “Give me another.”
Kol whooped, and Alaric looked amazed as they refilled their glasses. Glad they were all having their fun while I sat over here just wanting to throw her over my shoulder and lock her back in her room. And in half of those fantasies, I’d lock myself in there with her. It was like the rational part of my brain was fighting with—well, the dragon.
It was a complete nightmare. I could not be around her and the bad decision tonic that was being passed around. Something bad would happen.
“So what do you two like to do for fun?” Kol asked Nova.
I blinked. How was everyone else being so calm about this? Firstly, tonight was supposed to be my escape from this. And secondly, Nyx was going to murder us. There would be no survivors if he discovered we were gone, never mind if he found us with our charges, passing around Aquatic absinthe like water. I was a fucking idiot for allowing this.
I’d been in my head for the Goddess knew how long, but Nova’s words suddenly had my attention.
“—and Finn and Caly have been together for so long now. You can see how much he loves her just from the way he looks at her. It crushed her to have to leave him behind.”
