"What is it?" Khell asked, and this time it was his turn to be ignored by the pretty mothman.

Elias's antennae—like lovely, glittering gold ferns—twitched as I picked up the glass and took a sip. Bright, tart sweetness struck my tongue first, and the next sip went down easily before the heat of the alcohol hit my chest.

"Ooo, that's dangerous," I said, grinning.

"Lychee hibiscus," Elias offered. "Here, I'll make it a cocktail so it doesn't knock you flat before the end of the night."

I passed the glass back, and Elias added a soda water and a bit of ginger syrup.

"We'll call it the Sunny Day," Elias said with a wink in my direction. Khell growled and finally caught his friend's attention. "I haven't forgotten you. I picked this out specifically for you," Elias said, pulling up a bottle from under the counter.

American oak single malt. Khell was purring again in less than a minute, and then Elias was off to charm someone else without another word.

"Did he stop working for MSA too?" I asked Khell.

"He's a snob. He picks and chooses his clients," Khell said. "I think he just does the work for fun, but Astraeya says he's good. Come on, my cousins are here."

* * *

Several hours and many cocktails later, I'd been introduced to what I was sure was everyone in the bar. Khell was losing gracelessly to Natalie at a game of darts, and I found myself comfortably ensconced in a conversation about orcish customs with Khell's old co-worker, Eck'am, and his mate, Lenata.

"Mating outside of our species isn't so rare," Lenata said with a wave of her hand. "Male orcs are three to one and trees are hard lovers."

Apparently, jokes about fucking trees were fairly common in orcish humor.

"Khell'ar was always good mate material. I worried for him at the agency, thought he would miss his chance. But the fates sent you in the right direction," Eck'am said, reaching out to slap me roughly on the shoulder.

The couple was apparently a duo at MSA. For “advanced” clients, according to Lenata, whatever that meant.

Maybe it was my specialty cocktail from Elias, or the cheerfully casual atmosphere of the group where everyone seemed to know how Khell and I met and no one cared in the slightest, but a strange urge struck me.

"I have a question," I said, drawing the couple's focus. I blinked at them and then to the back of the room where Khell was roaring over a new bullseye. "What is 'orc bait'?"

Eck'am and Lenata blinked at me, and for a moment my mind went blank. Why had I asked that? They didn't even look as though they knew what the words meant.

Then Lenata tipped her head to the side and frowned. "Well…I mean, aside from the obvious—"

"What is the obvious?" I pressed before sucking down more of my liquid courage.