Page 185 of Nine-Tenths

Dav makes a noise of agreement.

"So, explain, you're what, in a hoard?" I ask Auntie Pattie.

"Aye, just an employee, unlike you," Auntie Pattie adds warmly.

"How'd that happen?"

"Oh, well, there was a restoration project, and the team lead was impressed with my proposal, you know how it goes. I'm handy with a drafting table and a protractor. I was just out of uni and up to my eyeballs in student debt—I wasn't about to say no to a position that came with a free apartment, and enough money to pay off my loans in a year." She plays with the bangle around her wrist. "To be honest, I like it. It's kind of like having a big old family, you know?"

I place my hand over Dav's on the table top. "I know."

I do now, at least.

"May I see?"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

We both stretch our left arms out, letting the other one turn them this way and that so our tokens catch the best light.

"It's beautiful,mo leanbh," Auntie Pattie says at length, then turns to Dav. "A Tudor then, are you, sir?"

"Distantly and only just," Dav says, voice croaking. "And your… ah,employer…"

He trails off, licking his lips, eyes darting to me.

"Don't leave us hanging, babe," I say.

Auntie Pattie smiles like a Cheshire cat.

"Raibeart Rìgh," she says gently. "Colin, dear, I belong to His Majesty, Robert the Bruce."

The volume at which I shriek "What?"gets us kicked out of the café, but that's fine with me because it means I have a lot of fresh open air in which to have my freak out.

I take a dozen or so minutes to pace the parking lot, back and forth across the banks of the river—fuming and grappling with the twisting, weird jealousy that washes through me each time Auntie Pattie bursts into peals of laughter at something Dav's said while they wait for me. They’re standing a careful six feet apart, and I love him just that bit more for being so tender with my family, but he’smydragon. Finally, I stop in front of them,scuff my boots against the icy paving, shove my frigid fingers into my coat pockets, and grumble, "Okay. Yes. Runs in the family. Happy?"

"Delighted, darling," Dav says, all pleased sass, and I stick out my tongue at him.

He moves to grab it, but I dance out of the way before he can.

Auntie Pattie watches all of this with an amused expression but shrewd eyes.

"Well, now what?" I ask after Dav and I have scuffled ourselves out, and I've jammed my way under his armpit to take advantage of his draconic heat. Scotland in early winter is chilly in a way that’s different than Canada. "Did you have plans for after you were outed to my boyfriend… lover… there's got to besomeword for what Dav is to me. I'm his Favorite and he's my…"

Dav and Auntie Pattie share an awkward glance.

"If you tell me the answer is 'master', I'm kicking you into that river over there," I warn them.

"It's my turn to ask prying questions," Auntie Pattie says with a mischievous grin, changing the subject with the subtlety of a drunk elephant. "Why are youreallyover here?"

Dav and I squirm.

"Dav's sister is—"

"Oh, come off it, you numpty. You think the courts are so separate that nobody chatters? I have friends in Whitehall."

"And what are your friends telling you?" Dav ventures, wary.

"That you're agitating a fair few folk," Auntie Pattie says. And then she smirks. "But also that most of those being agitated deserve a good shake-up. Most of Liz's advisers are damn near as ancient as she is, if not older. Woosley spends more time asleep than awake, I hear. He'll be Turning Over soon."

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