She put the kettle on. “Tea has caffeine,” she said. He blinked at this specious and irrelevant comment, and she added, “I can get some coffee next time I go shopping in town.”

“Thank you. That would be nice. When will you go into town?”

“I shop on Friday afternoons. Today’s Wednesday.” She pulled a notepad out of a drawer and wrote on it. “Is instant coffee okay? Should I get cream to go with it?”

“No,” he said. “Espresso beans, and sugar and milk. Whole milk, por favor, señora. A grinder for the beans. Or you could buy pre-ground beans, if you have to. Does this place have an espresso maker?”

“Like a machine?”

“Like, a little metal pot?” He gestured. “You put water and coffee in it, and it goes on the stove. Or a French press?”

Lily was not a coffee drinker. She made him buttered toast, and they drank hot tea together while he ate and explained the correct preparation of café con leche.

“You like anything else to eat? Did you like dinner last night?”

“It was really good,” said Ángel. “Maybe some sriracha?”

She laughed. “If you want to put sriracha on it, it wasn’t really good.”

“It was almost perfect,” he said, smiling, hand to heart. “Just needed some sriracha.”

“What other foods do you like?” she asked. “He doesn’t eat a lot of meat. I usually make sandwiches for lunch, and stir-fry with rice or noodles for dinner, or soup. He likes it okay, but we could use some variety. He doesn’t eat as much as he used to.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “He’s not doing so well. Used to be a better color, his skin? Now he’s sort of pale.”

“He’s literally white.”

“Yes, but he used to be not so pale. You should go talk to him,” she said, with a nudge. “He didn’t hire you to sit in the kitchen and talk to me.”

Ángel sipped his tea. “Is he up?”

“Oh, yes, he gets up at five. Exercises in the gym for ninety minutes every morning. Then works in his office, sometimes ten, eleven hours. I give him his lunch in there, but some days he forgets to eat it. Go say good morning to him.”

“The envoy is lonely.”

“You can come to my room.”

Ángel couldn’t disguise his reluctance. “I—I think I’ll explore the house.”

Lily frowned. “He’s not going to hurt you.”

“I know. He’s just kind of . . .”

She raised her eyebrows at him.

Cameras. Oberon could be listening to this right now. “I’ll take him his lunch at noon. Okay?”

She nodded and smiled.

Temporarily released from an unpleasant duty, he explored.