Hecate slipped an arm through his, quite ready for another drink herself. Under the bar, Hecuba was lounging, her body stretching almost the length of it. She raised her huge dark head as Hecate and Merlin approached, her tail thumping like a heartbeat on the floor. Hecate summoned a salmon pinwheel from one of the plates on the far side of the room, and held it out in her fingers for her dog, who took it gently in her massive jaw. "Hecuba, this is Merlin," Hecate said, and Hecuba huffed and put her head back down on her paws. "She's difficult to impress," Hecate said fondly. "Although an illusion of a cat might please her, the resulting chaos might not please Peitho so much."