Argeth dipped his chin, turned with a flourish, and practically floated from the kitchen.
The moment the demon’s tail disappeared, Davarox let out a long groan and scrubbed his hand down his face. “I need a drink.” His body sagged as he pulled out a stool, sat, and slumped over the counter. “Don’t let anyone else catch me like this.”
Lazerath pulled out another stool and wrapped an arm around Dav’s shoulders. “Who cares? Tonight was a success! Do you know how many conversations I overheard talking about our food?”
The gray demon shifted his head out of his arms, a few loose hairs falling over his eye. “Really?”
Laz shook him. “Yes, really. We come out with a huge profitandI’m betting we’ll see a crowd tomorrow.”
“We’re closed tomorrow.”
He stuck his hand up and tried to count the days on his fingers, then gave up. “Whatever. I remembered what profit was, you should be proud of me.”
Davarox chuckled. “I’m very proud.”
“See, I know how to read things. I want to ease some of your stress about being the responsible one all the time.”
“Are you still bothered by those contracts?”
Lazerath shrugged. “Yes. No. Maybe, but I also want to try to be better at learning all that stuff since it’s important for the business. Plus, you and Rose are sosmart, and I want to be able to, I don’t know, understand some of what you guys talk about. I’ve been going over our ledger for practice.”
Emotion flickered in Dav’s eyes as he straightened, and Laz could have sworn he spotted a little bit of concern there before his friend’s arms were wrapping around him. “It’s so boring, right?”
“Dav, it’s so fucking boring. I don’t know how you can sit and stare at numbers like that. My brain is soup.”
“Soup sounds so good right now.”
“Are we getting soup?”
They both jerked back at the new voice, finding the most stunning creature standing in the doorway.
Rosalind’s hair was tied in a knot at the top of her head, heeled shoes dangling from her fingers even as her whole body sagged from exhaustion. But she was grinning, and Laz couldn’t help himself. He draped himself over the counter, hands wiggling her direction in invitation.
“Beautiful, I missed you so much.”
“It’s only been a few hours.” She tossed her shoes into the corner before letting him lean back and pull her onto his lap. “The last few demons are trickling out. What else do you have to do tonight?”
“Nothing that can’t be done tomorrow.” Davarox pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’ve got a pretty smile on, baby. Good night?”
Rose wiggled in Lazerath’s lap, twisting so she could see them both. “Really good. Had a very enlightening conversation with the Horn of Finance about my proposal.”
Laz sat up straighter. “He approved?”
“Oh, the opposite. Vehemently.”
Davarox’s brows pinched. “And this is a… good thing?”
“It is, because he said something strange before dismissing me. Remember that missing money? I think I might know who’s involved.”
“Fuck.”
“Just a theory,” she said with a shrug, as if she wasn’t a few documents away from exposing a corrupt government official. “But I managed to convince Elliran to drop off some books tomorrow to compare. We’ll see if I can’t at least get a little bit closer to an answer.”
Lazerath squeezed her, resting his cheek on her shoulder. “You’re so fucking smart, Rose.”
“And so fucking hungry,” she added.
“Soup?” Dav suggested.
