"You alright?" Din sat beside her, pulling her against his side.
"I'm tired and a little overwhelmed. It will pass."
"We can skip dinner if you want to. We'll just shower and get in bed."
She shook her head. "I'm hungry. The prepackaged meals on Kalugal's jet were not that great. I'm surprised that he didn't assign one of his guys flight attendant duties to serve us proper meals."
Din chuckled. "Or brought Atzil along."
An hour later, refreshed after a shower and a change of clothes, they gathered in what Kalugal called the small dining room, though it could have comfortably seated twenty. The table groaned under the weight of dishes, and Fenella's mouth watered. There was roast lamb, stuffed vegetables, multiple types of rice, flatbreads, salads, and other dishes that Fenella couldn't identify but smelled amazing.
"Yusuf, or Joseph as he likes to be called these days, grew up poor and hungry," Kalugal said as they took their seats. "That's why he's convinced that running out of food is the worst possible hospitality failure, and he always makes the chef prepare twice as much as needed."
"It all looks and smells amazing," Kyra said.
Jacki waved a hand over the offerings. "Let's eat."
"Don't mind if I do." Fenella reached for one of the platters and scooped a generous portion of rice with roast lamb onto her plate.
After they were finished and the staff had cleared the main courses, Kalugal led everyone to a spacious salon. "I'm curious to see what my team has found while we were gone."
"Shall I bring the items now, sir?" Yusuf, aka Joseph, asked.
"Please," Kalugal said. "But first, my guests are in dire need of strong coffee." He smiled at Kyra, who had started to doze off. "We are not done for today, my dear."
She shook herself. "We are not?"
"I want us to examine the figurines before we retire for the night."
"Of course." She straightened her back. "Coffee will be helpful, though."
A few minutes later, a server arrived with a tray of small cups that emitted a strong aroma of coffee.
It was sweetened with too much sugar, but whatever was in that stuff was like a booster shot of energy, and after finishing her cup, Fenella felt like she could dance the night away. Either that or have her way with Din on that beautiful bed in their room.
What they had done on the jet had been just the appetizer.
With coffee and dessert consumed, she half expected Kalugal to invite everyone to a smoking room, or maybe to the garden she'd seen from the window of her room, but he didn't. Instead, he opened the large wooden box that Joseph had put on the side table beside him and peered inside.
"Shall I take the items out?" Joseph asked.
"No need, thank you," Kalugal said. "We would appreciate some privacy, though."
"Of course, sir." Joseph dipped his head and ushered the rest of the staff out of the room, closing the double doors behind him.
Kalugal leaned forward conspiratorially. "Yusuf used to be one of my diggers. He showed up at the site one day, skinny as a rake, claiming he had experience. He didn't, of course, but he was so eager to learn, so quick to pick up English and adapt to whatever was needed. I promoted him to site assistant, then house manager when I realized his real talents lay in organization rather than excavation."
"He seems very capable," Jasmine observed. "An intelligent fellow."
"He is, and what's more, he might be a Dormant."
That got everyone's attention, and Fenella regarded their host with a frown. "What makes you think so?"
"It's just a hunch." Kalugal smiled. "Sometimes I get them." He turned to Din. "That's how I knew that David, Sari's mate, was a Dormant, and I brought him over to her as a gift with a ribbon on top." He pretended to tie an imaginary ribbon in the air.
Din snorted, and Fenella wanted to ask him what the heck Kalugal was talking about, but maybe she should wait until they were alone to hear that story.
"If you suspect him, why haven't you tested him?" Kyra asked. "With males, it's easy. All he has to do is fight an immortal for a minute or so to activate the immortal's venom glands and get bitten."
