Page 50 of Grand Romantic Delusions and the Madness of Mirth, Part Two

His gaze completely amused, Sully quickly runs his hand and a touch of his essence through my hair, then smooths the wrinkles out of my dress. “I’m going to leave the ‘thoroughly kissed’ color on your lips, Mirth. It’s not at all princess-like, but it makes me so fucking hard imagining —”

I slap my hand over his mouth.

He tongues my palm.

And that shouldn’t be as sexy as it is.

Then Kitty and Tommy are tumbling into the room with Elias.

Roz hovers, then closes the door behind them.

Both of the kids’ eyes widen as they take in the far windows and the track below.

Tommy’s arm is in a sling now, hopefully because Sully is being extra protective and not because he’s reinjured it.

Kitty’s wearing her pink designer backpack despite its origins …

and I realize that I’ll have to ask Sully to find a replacement for it, because it bothers me that the Mobius Group gave it to her.

Both kids are clothed head to toe in brand-new designer clothing.

They don’t even notice us, pressing against the no-longer-tinted glass. Roz must have made the adjustment as they entered.

Elias saunters over, his clearly amused gaze settling on my lips and lingering.

“Lord Hereford,” I say.

“Your Highness.”

He leans over and kisses me, lingering on that as well.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, I whisper against his lips, “Tommy and Kitty’s mother?” I glance over toward the kids. “They seem in good … spirits. Is she … have you …?”

“Nothing definitive,” he murmurs. “The local authorities are looking into Gail Walsh’s disappearance.

” His cool tone hides everything I can suddenly feel from him through the bond, as if he’s opened that connection between us deliberately.

He’s still so angry at everything that’s happened with the kids.

“They’re … there’s enough evidence to treat her as a co-conspirator rather than a victim. ”

My heart pinches, and I must not hide my grimace terribly well because he nods stiffly. “Do Tommy and Kitty … do they know?”

“Tommy is well aware,” Eli says. “Sully distracted Kitty with all the clothing he had delivered while Tommy and I typed up a preliminary statement. Just in case the locals get more aggressive about talking directly to the kids.”

I swallow harshly. “Do we … do we have to pursue it? Couldn’t we just …”

Elias touches my hip gently. “I think that as new as it is, the bond, and specifically their connection to you, is helping stabilize them right now. But they need to know, Mirth. They’ll need to know whatever we uncover.”

“Mirth!” Kitty cries, spinning away from the window as if she’s only just realized there are other people in the box. “We placed bets on your horse!”

I pull away from the upsetting conversation with Elias, looping my arm through his and crossing toward the children still plastered to the window.

“Bets?” I say, just so Kitty knows I’m listening.

She nods enthusiastically. “With our own money.”

“Stolen money,” Tommy grumbles.

“It’s an allowance,” Kitty insists. “That’s what Eli said —”

“Lord Hereford,” Tommy interjects, correcting his sister.

Kitty bobs her head in acknowledgment but continues undaunted, “An allowance of the … principal. Plus those Mobius guys were assholes.”

“I’m not quite following,” I say, quashing an inappropriate smile at Kitty’s concise but blistering summary of the group that kidnapped and harmed her and her brother.

“Miss Kitty presented me with a dozen one-ounce gold bars and a half dozen silver bars this morning,” Elias says, epically smoothly. “Purloined, I believe, from the safe you cracked at the auction space.”

“Purloined, yes!” Kitty says, as if she couldn’t remember the word. “Like pirates.”

“Otherwise known as thieves,” Tommy says.

“They deserve it! How much money were they going to make, selling you and me?”

“Perhaps not the best conversation,” Elias says. “Given our surroundings.” He glances around pointedly.

With the windows all clear, the boxes on either side of us have a perfect view of us in the front seating area. As does anyone with sharp eyesight or otherwise enhanced senses in the nearby stands.

Following Eli’s gaze, Kitty’s eyes widen. She looks utterly chagrined. “Of course, my lord. I understand.”

Tommy huffs doubtfully.

Kitty punches him in the chest.

He grunts. Given that his arm is still in a sling, the blow probably did hurt.

“Eli … Lord Hereford … said we could get a safe in our bedroom, my bedroom,” Kitty says, stepping closer to me and lowering her voice.

“The earl said that was better. That he’d give us an allowance based on the principal.

He wrote it all down. Like, all the numbers, and downloaded an app on my phone to show me how to track it. ”

Seriously trying not to laugh about Lord Hereford being put in the position of potentially laundering the Mobius Group’s gold and silver, especially because I’d been in the room and not noticed Kitty taking the bars in the first place, I say, “A safe is always a good idea, Kitty.” Then I turn toward Eli, throwing a somewhat fake smile at the occupants of the box to our left as I blank on their names.

“A bit advanced for a nine-year-old, no?”

“Kitty requested a favor,” he says stiffly, not quite looking at me. “I … obliged.”

The tops of his ears are slightly pink. Lord Hereford is way out of his depth, and still utterly amazing.

I brush my fingers against the inside of his wrist, out of sight of the neighboring boxes.

Before I can withdraw my hand, he loops his fingers through mine, the gesture mostly hidden between our bodies.

Kitty watches the interaction, her brow slightly furrowed. “That’s okay, right, Mirth?”

“The safe in your bedroom? Of course.”

Kitty’s frown deepens, her hands coming up to grip the straps of her backpack. “Yes, but …”

I’ve missed something in the conversation. The boxes on either side of us are filling in, as are the crowded stands. I can feel attention shifting onto us from multiple directions. Kitty and Tommy are too exposed like this, next to the windows.

“Eli says we can live at Lake Thun in between semesters,” Kitty whispers so quietly that I strain to catch the words. “If we need to. Like … if Mom doesn’t come back?”

Tommy doesn’t correct her again about using Eli’s title in public. His attention is riveted to me now, watchful and a little wary.

“That’s an entire castle, right?” Kitty mumbles. “That’s yours, right?”

I sit down, grateful that I don’t misjudge where the bench seat is behind me. I reach my hand toward Kitty. When she takes it, I pull her to sit beside me. Then I pat the seat on my other side for Tommy. He sits, but he doesn’t snuggle into me as Kitty does.

I look up at Elias questioningly.

The conversation in the box fades as Bolan, Sully, and Christoph shift to occupy the seats directly behind us. Kitty watches them with wide eyes, then returns her attention to me.

Elias crouches down in front of me.

We’ve surrounded Tommy and Kitty in whatever comfort the nascent bond between all of us can provide.

“Eli tells me that the authorities are still trying to figure out everything that happened last night, including where your mother might be,” I say, easing into the topic.

Tommy snorts derisively, but I can feel uncertainty and guilt pouring off him.

“She could come back,” Kitty insists quietly to her brother. “Maybe … maybe she didn’t mean to tell those people about me …? Maybe they forced her!”

Elias, still crouched before us, clears his throat to pull the kids’ attention to him. “Because Mirth already secured places for both of you at the Phrontistery, I thought it best to discuss all of your options. Of which living at Lake Thun Castle with all of us is one.”

“You did?” Tommy asks me. “Like, even before …?”

“Yes,” I say, feeling a little shaky. But in anticipation, not fear. “I was going to speak to your mother about allowing you to attend.”

“She’ll say yes,” Kitty declares.

Tommy’s grimace isn’t as enthusiastic.

“Plus!” Kitty practically grinds her sharp little shoulder into mine in her renewed excitement.

“We helped Eli file those guardianship papers on the way here. We gave, um, statements to the judge person about how we’re part of, um, we’re both part of your bond group.

Right? The judge person. In that white wig. Right, Tommy?”

“Right,” he huffs. “Eli already explained it all. But the judge asked us questions, then she explained how a guardianship works for children under eighteen in a bond group, who, like, aren’t blood related. It’s not an adoption or anything.” He says that last bit pointedly, to his sister.

“I listened,” she says. “It’s like … making sure we’re taken care of … that we have everything we need.”

My eyes fly to Elias for clarification.

“That’s why we were a little late getting here. An appointment opened up.”

I doubt that any lack of openings would ever hinder Elias from doing exactly what he wanted when he wanted it.

“Don’t worry,” Sully drawls from behind us. “Christoph kept the princess well distracted.”

Kitty interjects. “Because I’m awry like you’re awry, right, Mirth? That judge person said there was some co-dis-cell in the charter about that. Like, already a law.”

“Codicil,” Elias corrects. “And yes.”

“And Coda says …”

Elias grimaces almost imperceptibly at that.

Kitty takes a deep breath, as if she hasn’t been breathing properly through all the words she’s trying to force out. “Coda says all awry protect each other. That it’s this big web or weaving or … something … like all our power tied together.”

“And I’m old enough to sign the bond group papers,” Tommy says quietly. “I don’t need Mom’s signature. I doubt she’d give it anyway. Not, like, without a big cash payout or something.”

“That’s not true,” Kitty says loudly, her bottom lip suddenly quivering.