“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. Let’s start again—what about Conor?”

Eli’s tongue roams his cheek. Clearly, seeing us interact during the fight must have given him some food for thought. “You know, for a while there, I wondered if you were just pretending to like him because you enjoyed watching me squirm.”

“That was just a nice perk.” I grin. “Okay, before you start the overprotective-older-brother routine, allow me to give you a brief overview of the facts: Everything is consensual. I initiated it. He’s not taking advantage of my wide-eyed youth. He’s not breaking my heart. He’s not—”

“Are you?”

“—using his considerable influence to…Excuse me?”

“Are you breaking his heart?”

It’s like a mischievous child is shaking the little snow globe in which I dwell, and now the world is upside down. “So…You’re not here to inform me that if this continues, you’re going to lock me in Rapunzel’s tower and beat up your closest friend for ruining me. You’re here to tell your barely legal little sister to be gentle with the rich older guy.”

Eli licks his teeth. “Put this way, it sounds fucked up.”

I nod, thoughtful. But say, “I find this very flattering.”

“You do?”

“At least you are giving me agency. I’m not wholly sure why you’re siding with him, but—”

“I’m not—it’s not about siding, Maya. I am just worried about the one who clearly has feelings.”

I laugh. Then realize that he’s serious. “You think I don’t?”

“I…” Eli’s palm draws circles against his temple. “It’s different. He’s different. With you, I mean. I think it’s the way he looks at you. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like…Like he could become unhinged really quickly.” A sigh. “In the last couple of years, he’s been very protective of you, but—”

“Are we talking about Conor Harkness?”

Eli looks at me like I’m an ungrateful toddler. “Yes, Maya. He cares about your well-being. He checks in. Pays attention when you come up in conversation. Remember that hard-to-get computer Minami gave you as a graduation present?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s the one who pulled strings to get it. And—” Eli snorts. “You know how he feels about UT after they kicked us out, right?”

I nod.

“The year you enrolled, he started donating to the College of Natural Sciences.”

“What? Why?”

“One of the lessons he got from Finneas Harkness. Buy influence in places where you might need it.”

“I didn’t need it. I got in on my own merit. That was unnecessary—”

“I know, and so does he. But Hark’s a planner. He has little trust in institutions, or their commitment to decent behavior. And he cared about you, so he made sure that in the eventuality you needed something, his money would buy it.”

“I…” I shake my head. “He probably just wanted to support physics as a discipline.”

Eli’s eyebrow rises. “Two summers ago? Those floor-to-ceiling bookshelves you wanted in your room?”

“The ones you put up while I was on vacation with Jade? Even though you’d told me that I was smart enough to figure out how to put together my own furniture, and that I couldn’t pick and choose the gender roles that I wanted to reject, or automatically assume that you’d do shit for me because I’m a woman?”