With his belly full, his lips chapped, and a few more coins in his pocket than when he’d entered the pub, Asari strolled out into the cool evening and paused on the front step of the Stone Pony. Some men, he’d discovered, were happy to pay to have their cocks sucked. Women, on the other hand, preferred to slap him in the face when he offered to eat them out, something his companion found quite amusing.

While Asari could block out Thalon’s internal voice, doing so was exhausting, and left little room to concentrate on anything else. Besides, it was fun to fuck with him.

“So, where to now?” Asari asked, watching an older man walk along the main road and light the oil lamps hanging from poles and trees and the eaves of buildings. “He looks lonely. How much should we charge to let him fuck you in the ass?”

You’re a pig, a disgusting, perverse pig! Thalon shouted, making Asari chuckle.

“No, but we could find a pig, if you’d prefer,” he said, stepping down into the road and heading after the lamp man. “A nice big boar with a thick—”

Look out!

“Watch it!”

Asari jumped back as a pair of large mules clopped past, pulling a creaky old hay cart driven by what had to be the oldest woman on the planet. Dark eyes glared down at him from a wrinkled face, wisps of stringy white hair fluttering in the breeze.

“Keep out of the road, you drunk,” she snapped, pulling the cart to a stop beside the Stone Pony. “All right, boys. Everybody out.”

Stupid asshole, you almost killed me, Thalon complained. Asari ignored him.

Asari stood, staring, as a slender Archer leaped lightly down from the back of the wagon, his blond curls framing a tanned face with a strong jaw and warm brown eyes. He turned and offered his hand to his companion, a tall, lean Bard dressed in red and black leather, his short black hair spiked, his pale blue eyes lined with black eyeliner, making his gaze seem to burn.

The Bard ignored the offered hand, clambering awkwardly down from the wagon on his own. Asari sidled closer as the Archer paid the old woman a handful of shiny new coins. They watched the cart rattle away, then glanced around, like lost tourists just asking to be mugged.

A couple of …