"I love you too. Trust me," he says, kissing her on the side of her neck. "It'll all turn out okay in the end. I know it might not seem like it, but I've got allies both in the nest 'n elsewhere. If everything goes wrong, I know they've got my back." And if they turned on him or got him killed, he was going to be coming back as one hell of a vengeful ghost.

He looks from her to the cup and back again. "Tastes more like you were adding tea t'your gin 'n weren't very successful at it."