“Jealousy.”
He nods, gaze downcast.
“Is it all of us? Or just Bolan who worries you?”
“Well, I don’t really know the rest of you.”
I nod. I don’t have a concise answer for him. “That’s something we work through. Together. If it comes up. And we keep it away from Mirth.”
“Will Bolan keep it away from Mirth?” Rian asks wryly.
I lean over the table toward him, smirking. “Bolan has been pressed against a reinforced glass barrier of his own making for over a decade. If he finally breaks through to the other side, he’s doing nothing, absolutely nothing, to jeopardize it.”
“How do you know?”
“Are you willing to walk away?”
“No.”
“But you’ve only known Mirth for a few weeks.”
“No,” he says again.
I shrug. That’s his answer, then. “Tell me about this shit with your mom. Is she dodging your calls?”
“All after the first one.”
“Pretty sure Bolan’s about to be in the middle of it with his mother as well. Mirth has gone to their place to scatter some of Armin’s ashes.”
“And Bolan?”
“I gave him a heads-up.”
“For Mirth.”
I nod. “Maybe you and he can compare notes.”
“Yeah. Though … I have to decide if it even matters.”
“You have a half-sister as well. Olivia, Livi. She’s, like, a famous dancer.”
Rian looks surprised, then pained all over again.
“So some part of it matters.”
“Yeah.”
“You want me to be with you for the conversation with your mother? I can wait here. Just, you know, be here.”
Rian stares at me for a long while. Then he smiles, radiating an amused joy. “Well, as the head of my potential bond group, I guess I should introduce you, Lord Savoy.”
Oh, fuck.
I’m the fucking head of the fucking bond group.
Rian laughs at whatever he sees on my face, then he pushes my phone back toward me. “I’ve got a list of horses I’ve been keeping an eye on. Mostly breeding stock. That should keep Elias happy.”
“For a few minutes, at least.” I swallow as much of my trepidation as I can, because I seriously thought that Elias or Christoph would be the public head of the bond group. “After you talk with your mom, we’ll … I’ll introduce you to the others.”
