Yes, all right. I’m petting him.
I sigh, stepping back and allowing my hand to fall.
Christoph grabs it, flattening my palm against his chest. His heart beats steadily under my hand. “Are you worried that we’re being manipulated by the bond?”
I meet his gaze, startled. And I’m suddenly worried about exactly that. “I wasn’t. Are you?”
“Nope.” He chuckles, the noise rumbling under my palm, bringing an involuntary smile to my face. “I think we choose what we do with that connection. I’m not lost within you. I’m … home. And not just with you.”
I inhale deeply. “It’s not … it’s Rian. I think he’s pulling away.”
“Some bond groups take decades to form, especially if they’re generational.”
“Like the Mertons,” I murmur.
“Yes.” Christoph’s smile fades back to his typical inscrutable visage. He wears as much of a mask as I do. “My point is that Rian is … young —”
“He’s accomplished more in —”
“You know that’s not what I mean. You and Sully are young as well.”
“Maybe you’re just old,” I snark back.
“Maybe.”
His eyes gleam with amusement. Completely idiotically, I feel as if I’ve performed some impossible feat. But acting like an idiot or not, I grin up at him.
“Do you know why Sully picked this dress for you today?” he asks, all low and rumbly.
And just like that, I feel settled back in my skin. Not overwhelmed in the least. Focused, steady.
Christoph strokes his free hand lightly down my spine, flattening it over the small of my back. Then, looming over me, he fully palms my ass. “It looks like a peach.”
I laugh.
Christoph strokes my ass some more, angling his head to whisper in my ear, “Rian isn’t going anywhere, Mirth. I haven’t even had a taste of you, and I’m already addicted. The boy isn’t walking away.”
With the warm flush across my cheeks threatening to pool elsewhere, I focus on the fact that we’re technically in public. My royal guards might be skilled at pretending not to watch us, but they still see everything. “I don’t think it’s my … taste that’s the problem. I … I won’t force him, Christoph.”
Christoph pulls back, frowning. “You think it’s that serious?”
I nod, swallowing tightly. “Sully does. And Sully doesn’t usually … Sully doesn’t care about … anyone, really. Or what anyone thinks.”
“Just you … and Bolan.”
I nod, but then add, “He’ll eventually get around to Elias as well. It’s obvious they’re already physically attracted to each other. The caring part will come in …” I blink up at Christoph. “That was your point about Rian. We just need to give him time …”
He nods, but I can see him thinking. Perhaps giving my concerns more weight than before.
“I don’t want … I don’t expect all, or even any, of us within the main bond to fuck each other,” I say bluntly, because I just want to get the words out and then move forward. “I really never thought much about having multiple partners.” Now I’m the one flushing. “But I won’t sneak around with Rian either. I won’t treat him like that. He doesn’t deserve it. You … you weren’t uncomfortable this morning, with Elias and me, right? I read that correctly, yes?”
“Yes.”
I nod. “I understand that polyamory just might not be what Rian wants, no matter how much he might want me personally. And … I’m never, ever just going to be alone. Even if it wasn’t … even if I’d never found the rest of you … I’m not really a person. I have a place in this world. Responsibilities. And I accept that destiny whether I choose it for myself or not.”
“Again, he’s young, Mirth.” Christoph rests his finger under my chin gently, then he brushes a kiss across my cheek. “He’s overwhelmed. We all are. But we have each other, in some form, for support. I’ve never texted so much in my life.”
I smile at his sweet attempt to soothe me. But I have to focus elsewhere now. I have to be the princess now. In a much fuller sense of that role than I’ve ever embraced before.
