Linden nodded, but in a wary way. “She might know, yeah. But she still might not know know, Em.”

I stared at her, eyebrows raised. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Linden Thorn, except that it’s giving me flashbacks to like-liking people in middle school.”

She gnawed on the inside of her cheek, absently stroking Jasper’s head. “How much has Talia told you about Jessica?”

I thought of Talia’s face when I’d brought her ex up last night, the portcullis slamming closed. “Not much beyond the name, really. And that it ended badly right before she and Gareth had their thing.”

Linden winced at the mention of his name. “The thing about Talia is, she puts up a front like no other, right? But she’s actually pretty delicate. Really soft on the inside. And while I don’t know the details, either, the thing with Jessica screwed her up pretty good, and then . . .” She sighed, steeling herself. “And then Gareth’s two-timing sure didn’t help. Which means if she’s willing to go out on a limb for you—”

“Because, again, we’re adults, and it’s fun—”

“It still means she must like you, Em,” she interrupted, holding up a hand. “Or is at least considering taking a chance again. Maybe she can’t help it, because she’s Talia and an Avramov and therefore innately impulsive. It doesn’t make her feelings your responsibility, because like you said, adults. But it does mean you should at least be cognizant of where she’s coming from.”

I considered Talia’s own mentions of pacing herself—as if flinging herself into things headlong might be a pattern with her.

“I don’t know,” I said finally. “I like her, too, Lin. But I’ve only been back, what, a week—and it was one kiss, you know? I don’t feel like I have to worry about ramifications yet.”

“Fair enough. Just wanted you to be clear on what you were getting into.”

Linden gave me a small smile, her luminous eyes crinkling sweetly at the corners, the same knowing way she’d looked at me when we were six, and ten, and seventeen.

“I know how you are, Em, don’t forget,” she said gently. “You don’t fall hard or fast like I do, you take your time about it. And then if someone beats you to catching feelings, it freaks you the hell out. Makes you feel guilty, and resentful that you’re suddenly stuck managing all their emotions, all that inconvenient mess.”

She pulled heaps of wind-tossed hair back from her face, sighing. “So please don’t think I’m only watching Tal’s back here, because I’m not. I just . . . I also don’t want you to be the one who winds up feeling bad.”

I blinked, a little taken aback by how seen I suddenly felt, as if I really had managed to forget just how well Linden knew me. While this depiction didn’t make me sound particularly considerate or kind, it was true. Ever since Gareth, I did have a tendency to hold myself back. Maybe that heartbreak had been formative, somehow; or maybe it was just how I was made. Either way, I’d wound up feeling terrible more than once, when someone declared their love long before I’d begun to even consider the possibility of falling.