Page 17

Holy. Crap.
I mean, I’ve always suspected I was heterosexual. I’ve never really had any lusty thoughts or feelings for any women I’ve met. But the most I’ve ever felt for a man was ‘oh, he’s good-looking’.
I’d kind of started thinking I was maybe just asexual. Which was fine. I was destined for an arranged marriage with a man that my grandfather had chosen for me when I was four years old. So being wildly attracted to someone else at any point would have been inconvenient.
But nope. Not asexual.
Very, very capable of sexual attraction to a man, it turns out.
At leastoneman…
“Does that work for your schedule, Linnea?”
I pull myself out of my thoughts and make myself focus on the people around the dinner table. Dammit, the king just asked me a question about my schedule.
“I…” I take a breath and admit, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I didn’t hear what you asked me.”
King Diarmuid seems confused by that. Which makes sense. I’m never distracted.
But Jonah is sitting directly across the table from me. Torin is at the end of the table, opposite the king. Jonah is to his left. I’m to his right.
And oh God, this is how it’s going to be. Forever.
“I asked if it would work for your schedule to accompany Torin to the energy summit in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of September?”
I glance at Torin. His jaw is tight. He doesn’t look at me. I don’t roll my eyes, at least not outwardly.
“Yes, the hockey season starts for Alex in October so he’ll have some events in September, but I can spend a weekend in D.C.”
My brother is a rising hockey star, and I’m his agent. Just as I am for my sister, Astrid. She was once a gymnast predicted to not only be Cara’s first Olympian but our first gold medalist as well. A horrible fall and spinal cord injury during the qualifying round ended that dream. But I’ve ensured the world has seen her strength and resilience through her recovery and rehab. She’s now a sought-after inspirational speaker, an advocate for athletes with disabilities, and a children’s book author.
My siblings are independent and have names of their own. They don’t have to lean on our family name or legacy, and they definitely aren’t at the mercy of the royal family of Cara for their success and security.
Exactly as I intended.
I’d like to think that I would have been a huge cheerleader for them both and would have helped them become big stars regardless of, well, anything. But being raised to believe that I had only one path and that I had no choices in my own life and future—and then being jerked around by the people who were supposed to be a part of that future—made medeterminedthat my siblings would be in positions where they could determine what they wanted their lives to look like.
“Wonderful,” Diarmuid says. “I think having you and Torin there together will be?—”
“No.” Torin interrupts with a single, firm word.
I sigh.
So does the king.
Jonah leans back in his chair.
We were all expecting this.
I watch Jonah with interest, though. This is the first time he’s been present for a “family dinner” with the O’Gradys and me, my parents, and my grandmother.
We’ve been having these once-a-month dinners for years. For a very long time, they included my grandfather, the king’s best friend.
And none of the king’s grandchildren.
They had all abdicated their titles and were living in the U.S.
The good old days.