Page 91 of Nine-Tenths

"Hmm," Dav says, considering the question. He turns his head, presses his temple to the carpet to meet my eyes. His pupils are still fat with desire, leaving a golden ring around the outside, glimmering with satisfaction. A deep thrum rumbles under my palm, nearly inaudible unless one is straining for it. He licks his kiss-bruised lips, and the fire in my own belly flares up as I watch the pink tip trace the peaks of his cupid's bow. "Now, I suppose, we try to figure out how we make this work. Forus."

"For us," I agree, still unsure, but at least hollowed out of the simmering anger that had taken root when he'd walked out the door. "But I was thinking more about the immediate future."

"Immediate?" Dav asked.

My stomach growled in lieu of my response, and Dav chuckles.

"Dinner it is," Dav says, and curls up onto his feet so swiftly and easily I barely have time to realize he's upright before he's offering me his hand.

"Dinner," I agree, and let him pull me up onto my feet and into his arms, like it's where I was always supposed to be.

Maybe it was.

"Dinner," I say again. "And then you can tell me exactly what 'your property’ means.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Dav has a cook, and apparently she leaves lots of little easy-to-reheat dishes stacked in the freezer. Dav chooses a roast meal for himself. I pick the lasagna. Once they’ve heated through, we sit at the table by the window, watching the moon rise over the vineyard while we both struggle to find something to say.

"I was placed on house arrest," Dav ventures at last, the first thing he’s said since we cleaned up that wasn’t about food. "I asked Onatah to watch you."

"Lt. Gov. Asshole had a stooge, too."

Dav cuts me a sardonic smirk over his potatoes. "Please don't ever let him hear you call him that."

"It's not like I'll ever spend any time around him," I say around a mouthful of what is, honestly, the best pasta I've ever had in my life.

Dav's ears flush.

"No." I set down my fork. "I refuse."

"Youcannotrefuse," Dav says patiently. "You are legally my Favorite. You may be commanded by any dragon above me in rank, or in family."

"Okay, so, one." I hold up a single finger. "I'm not forgetting about the house arrest thing, so don't think you've changed the subject, and two," I hold up a second finger. "Could the queen snap her talons and I'd have to hop-to?"

Dav sets down his own fork. "One, there is nothing to discuss. Part of my punishment was to remain within the walls of my nesting grounds for a decade. Donning my token—voluntarily and without my interference—has invalidated that. Whether I leave the property or not,youmay now be here, as you are mine, with every freedom and obligation that entails. Including the demands of my protection, my shelter, my coffers, my table, and, should we both desire it, my bed. Two, in exchange for those demands, you are a vassal of her majesty, so yes."

"One, that's cruel. And me just a ten-minute drive away?Cruel." I reach out and link our pinkies. "And two, a what?"

"One, that was the point. It was a punishment, after all. And two, as I am gifted with land in return for military service, you are likewise now promised."

"Service," I say flatly.

"Notsexual," Dav says quickly, blushing again. "Notalwayssexual."

"Could Simcoe—"

"Never!" Dav gasps, horrified. "It is quite one thing to be a vassal to a dragon. It's another entirely to be Favorite of a titled peer. No one woulddare."

"Yeah, let's talk about that title thing." I twist my wrist to pinch the back of his hand playfully. "Marquess Niagara."

"Would it have impressed you?" Dav asks.

"Probably the opposite."

"And so you see why I did not mention it." His eyes drift to the pin, and his expression gets soppy. "For which I am immensely thankful."

"What if I forget to wear it?" I ask, knowing what a disaster I am. "What if Iloseit?"