James would have been happy to slip upstairs to their private rooms, as he had so many times before, and simply relax with his oldest friends. Matthew, however, had immediately climbed onto a chair, demanded the entire pub’s attention by clanging his stele against the metal chandelier, and cried out, “Friends! This evening my parabatai, James Jeremiah Jehoshaphat Herondale, celebrates his last night as a single man!”
