Page 190 of Nine-Tenths

"And Dav knows this about you?"

"He must have figured it out. Because if he had satmedown with a whole book of rules, and expectations, and an exactexplanation about how we're both going to die in five hundred years, I’da run screaming."

"But he didn't," Auntie Pattie says. "And so you didn't."

"Which is lucky," I chuckle.

Auntie Pattie reaches over the table and pinches my ear.

"Ow!"

"Silly bugger. You think luck has anything to do with it?"

"Doesn't it?" I ask, rubbing my sore flesh.

"Your Dav is a military man, you said? Studied soldiery his whole life?"

"Yes."

"Being a commanding officer, the leader of a combat unit, being in charge of not only battles, but the logistics of getting everyone there in one piece, healthy and well-fed, and then getting what's left of them home again… you understand how muchplanningthat takes?"

"Oh."

"Dragons who don'tthinkdon't keep their territories, and it's not all about battle prowess. Even if you outsource it by claiming the most talented humans you can in a field—" She gestures to herself, justifiably proud. "—you still need to find those people, first."

"So you mean like, Dav had a farm and a vineyard to run, so he chose a Favorite who could do it for him?" The thought curdles my good mood. I don't like the idea of being a conscious acquisition, even if it did result in us falling in love. I don't want to have started my relationship with Dav as a convenient and cultivated opening move in a chess-match to keep his territory intact and healthy.

I say as much.

"Ya ninny wee nugget," Auntie Pattie laughs. "I see the way he stares at you. It started with lust, pure and simple."

"Oh, well." I throw her a saucy wink. "It does make me feel better, knowing that he wanted to dick me down before he wanted me to oversee his production yields."

Auntie Pattie makes an undignified sound, shaking as she tries to hold in what I'm sure would otherwise be howling laughter. "I'm just saying, it's almost like he gave you what you needed, how you needed it. It'salmostlike he paid attention and figured out how to approach the first time in the best way possible."

"Oh no, that was a complete clusterfuck," I tell her, settling in to recount the full story. "Five seconds after we had our first real conversation, he stabbed me."

By mid-afternoon, the snow has slowed enough that I don't mind waiting beside the car parked at the front of the castle for Dav. Well, Imindbecause I'm still sore about being kept out of the meeting, but I’m not getting buried in a snowbank, at least.

"Fuck," I whisper, and beside me, Auntie Pattie gave me the stink-eye.

"I forgot to ask Lady Isobel what Favorites are supposed to call our dragons."

"Still picking at that?"

"Boyfriend sounds childish, and fiancé isn't right because we're not waiting for anything, but he's not technically my husband because we're not married and dragons can have spouses that aren't Favorites so like, what do I call him?"

Before she can answer me, everyone at the front door leaps into motion, cranking open the massive carven door.

"I think it's literally the least of your worries right now, kiddo." She drops a big kiss on my cheek. "Text me when you're back to Wales safe, and keep me in the loop, aye?" Then Auntie Pattieis off around the side, so she's not in the way of any formal grandstanding that might need to happen as Dav and I leave.

Which sucks.

I wish she could be here. She’s my family.

But like everything else in my life now, apparently, there are freakingoptics. And speaking of optics, Lady Isobel is the first one out the door, which surprises me. She's wearing a massive old-fashioned fur wrap, and carrying another.

"Marquess Niagara tells me neither of you brought coats with you," she scolds as she descends the steps and, another surprise, completely invades my personal space and wraps it around me. "November in Scotland? What were you thinking?"