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“It won’t leave any lasting effects. Unless you want it to, of course.” His eyebrows waggled.

“You can’t—” I leaned closer and lowered my voice. “You can’t poison people. Even bad ones.”

“In case you hadn’t fucking noticed, it’s literally my job to do exactly that.”

“Not with real poison!”

“Look, Adam. If you wanted a nice, wholesome bartender to mix you drinks and listen to your woes, why the fuck did you buy me?” He swept an arm at the multi-colored racks of bottles behind him that did admittedly look like an apothecary’s shelves. “What do you see?”

“Uh . . . drinks?”

“No. Want to kill a cheating lover? Try the Deceitful Daiquiri. A truth serum? Order the Veracity Venom. Or let’s say you want someone to love you, but just for a day. Then you’ll want the Amore Elixir. Sex on the Beach will make you come on that stool. Alcohol, my dear man, has the answer to everything.”

My mouth fell open. “Your drinks can do that?”

“Why do you think I was discontinued? I was too literal . . . too shocking.”

I gulped. “I’ve created a monster.”

“If by monster you mean the best fucking bartender in this fine city, then you’re welcome.”

“Just . . . just don’t poison anyone tonight. Except Gideon.” Well, that had just slipped right out.

Tom’s eyebrows lifted. “Is this Gideon the man who kidnapped our Zodiac?”

“Never mind, I didn’t mean that. Don’t poison anyone. You can’t. The wards will prevent you from causing harm. And Gideon probably won’t come, not after yesterday.”

“What happened yesterday?

“His minion threw Lord Reynard out a window.”

Tom nodded, thinking it over. “And we’re not poisoning him because?”

“Because it’s wrong?”

“Oh right.” Tom winked again. “It’s ha ha wrong.”

“No, I’m not being cryptic. Poisoning people is wrong, Tom.”

He winked again.

“Why are you winking? Humans react very badly to that sort of thing. The reviews will be terrible, and there are laws against it. The wards⁠—”

“Wards aren’t infallible,” Tom said, with far too much confidence for my liking. “Well hello, there,” he crooned at a new customer, completely ignoring my attempt to rein him in. “What can I get you? And may I say how fabulous your hair is? You definitely look like you need a good time, so let’s set you up with some liquid sex.”

“No poison,” I mouthed. This time he saluted, and I had no idea if that was the same as winking? Maybe he should poison Gideon. It would solve a lot of my problems. But any ill intent, and the wards would lock Tom down. I was sure of it—mostly.

What was I thinking? I couldn’t sanction poisoning . . .

The last thing we needed was to give Gideon more ammunition to shoot us down with. Gideon wasn’t coming anyway, so all of this was moot. We just needed his shadowbeast to make an appearance and to fall into Reynard’s trap.

I left the bar, surprised to find the lobby throbbing with Lost Ones and humans alike. This was either a wonderful idea, or a dangerous one. Either way, the wards would protect everyone. Hopefully.

I waved a hello to Noreen Greene, then ducked my head and vanished out a side door, so she couldn’t corner me with a thousand questions. Away from the hustle and bustle of the rapidly burgeoning party, I found Reynard in the attic, looking very gothic as he stood over a pentagram chalked onto the floor, surrounded by half a dozen flickering candles.

“This looks like . . . fun.” I hadn’t expected ritual magic. He didn’t seem the sort. Zee would use it as further evidence he couldn’t be trusted, but as he was doing this to help find Zee, I wasn’t going to question it. Maybe later.

“How is the party coming along?” he asked.