Athos, hardly needing any help from anyone to get drunk, reached for the bottle for yet another refill. It would have been unfair to say that he had lost count of how many he had had; he had never tried to keep count, having long since learned how much of a lost battle that always turned out to be.

And, since they were talking about him in the third person, he was content to let them carry on, bringing his newly filled glass to his lips for another wonderfully smoky, peaty drink, and the solace that came with it.