Page 171 of Nine-Tenths

"Oh my god! You're never meeting anyone I date ever again!"

"I've already met Dav. Tough shit."

"And he's making you cry!"

"It'sromantic, you fuck."

We're both quiet for a moment.

"I guess… see you when you get back?"

"Yeah," I promise. "Make sure our usual spot is open."

I hug her, holding on for as long as the prickly bitch will let me. I'm acutely aware that there's now a time limit on how long I'll be able to do this.

The car pulls up, and Janet tell Dav she's "packed everything he asked for" through the window.

"Packed?" I ask, as Dav opens the door for me.

"Get in, Mine Own. We're going to the airport, before Frank can stop us. Right now."

Chapter Forty-Four

I'm not gonna lie, part of me expected we'd travel on an old-fashioned sailing ship. Not a private jet. Okay, well, notprivate, but when you fly super-luxurious-first-dragon-class, it feels like it. There's an actual door between us and the rest of the plane, and just two seats in our tiny cabin, which turn into beds. We hadn't even bought the tickets in advance, just strolled up to the counter with Dav's black credit card. So we're feeling pretty confident that Lt. Gov. Dipshit didn't have enough time to mobilize his spies, or bug this compartment, or whatever else he might try to do to keep us from leaving Canada. (Doesn't mean we don't check under every cushion, though.)

Dav started sending a flurry of emails back to Wales while we were waiting to board, outlining his desire to introduce hisparents to his Favorite, and to check up on his sibling's egg. As far as anyone hacking our phones or tracking Dav's spending would know, we're simply heading over for a surprise family reunion. Immediately.

While Dav sets up our digital paper trail, I'm doing some phone-time of my own, telling my family the same things about the trip, but also re-reading some of the research I'd saved on Simcoe.

Specifically, I want to know whathismiddle name is.

"What if this goes tits up?" I ask, as we're taxiing along the runway. "What's the worst case scenario?"

Without looking at me, Dav says: "My titles and lands are stripped from me, you are severed from my hoard, I'm sent to Wales in disgrace if not outright executed, and Simcoe finds a way to take over Onatah's territory, possibly killing her and all of her family in the process."

I suck in a sharp breath. "Shit. So, like, you've thought about it."

"A tactician must always face the worst outcome in order to avoid it." Now he does look at me. He links our pinkies, and lifts them for a quick kiss. "But that will not happen. Because I will not let it."

"Neither will I."

"So we're in agreement," he grins, eyes crinkling. "Nothing horrible will happen, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Okay," I say, trying to leave my anxiety behind as the ground through the window falls away. "Nothing to worry about."

It hits me, just as the seatbelt light blinks off, that I'm about to meet the parents.

Oh my god. That's abigworry. I haven't met the parents since… since Rebekah's cop dad. He'd found my verbal spewing charming, thank god, but Dav's parents are…

They're going to be fancy, aren't they?

They'll be dragons, for a start.

And nobility.

And British.

Dav's lived in Canada longer than he ever lived in Wales, but his parents are going to beproperlyBritish, with scones and clotted cream, and the right way to hold your teacup (is pinkies out a thing? I don't actually know), dry humor and, oh god, they're going toeat me alive.