Page 153 of Nine-Tenths

"Well I know thatnow," I snark back.

"Yes. Now you do. And he'll work on it if you make him. He’ll do better, too."

"You're starting to sound an awful lot like an abuse apologist," Hadi warns.

"No, just a dragon who knows how Dav thinks. Listen, Colin… do you know how suicidal dragons kill themselves?"

"What," I screech.

Hadi backs off to round on Onatah. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Onatah looks up at us both placidly. "Do you?"

"No!" My skin tightens in horror. "Of course not!"

"They cut themselves off," Onatah says. "They build walls, and they hide behind them."

Jesus fucking Christ.

She's not subtle. I knew Dav was unhappy before we got together. But I didn't realize he wasthisunhappy.

"They wait for the next war," Onatah adds, leaning back, eyes soft.

"Oh god." I was not prepared for this conversation. "Why would he…?"

"He thinks it's right that he wither away. Whether or not you or I, or anyone else who knows the full story agrees,Davthinks it was his fault."

"But he's surrounded by humans." I point out.

"Servants," Onatah says, nose wrinkling. "Not a community, not the way it's supposed to be. He doesn't…" she groans, and tries again. "Dragons aren’t supposed to be so isolated that another dragon leaving a scent on a Favorite makes that happen." She gestures at my wrist. "You follow me? Dragons need humans, the same way humans need dragons. We're as one species, Colin. The European dragons, they've… I don't know, forgotten it. Or are willfully ignoring it." Frustrated, she scratches at the base of a horn. "They're idiots."

"At least that's something we agree on."

"Let me explain it another way. What if you had a dog—"

"Not a pet," I snap.

"Dav is the dog. So, let’s say you leave a dog in a room with a high-pitched whistle, and it howls and scratches, and you don't let it out. And after hours, you go into the room, and it's backed into the corner, teeth out. You pet it, like nothing's wrong. What's gonna happen?"

"It's stressed out and uncomfortable," Pedra says. "It's gonna bite."

We all look at the cut in the center of the hickeys on my wrist.

"Dav's trapped and stressed out?" Hadi asks. "Since Charlotte."

"Yeah," Onatah says. "And Simcoe's punishment made it worse. No Favorite for acentury, no community engagement, no going into other's territories. Practically had him on house arrest."

"I am liking this guy less and less," Hadi growls.

Pedra squeezes Onatah's hand pensively. "Do you think it's deliberate? Simcoe deliberately stressing him out, isolating him, siccing him on Colin. Do you think that he…?" She turns her gaze up at Onatah, questioning.

"In my opinion?" Onatah says. "Yeah."

"What, so the Lieutenant Governor is what, trying to scare Colin away?" Hadi splutters. "Maybe get himkilled?"

"Frank's always been envious of Dav," Onatah says. "His territory, his military victories, his father's admiration, his easy charm."

"You should have seen the way he glared at Dav last night," I tell them, instead of letting myself think about what Hadi is proposing. It’s too big, right now. "And he'stotallyuncool about Dav and Laura being friends."