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Henry, on the other hand, is an open book. He’s smirking. At Jonah.
“What are the meetings?” I ask.
“She’s meeting with James Hill.” He pauses. “And Christian Waite.”
That catches my attention. I know the names, of course, and the history of the prior meetings with them.
But Henry is still smirking.
“Why isn’t Torin going along?” I ask.
It’s not like Torin has anything pressing to do in Cara. The king isn’t giving him any specific responsibilities and history would show that Torin takes every opportunity to come back to the United States.
“Because he…” Jonah sighs.
It used to be a little easier for these guys to lie to me, but I’ve known them all for a very long time now. I don’t know why they even try now.
“Jonah, what’s going on?” I press.
“Torin wants her to go alone. James and Christian both want to see her…personally. They reached out and Torin agreed to…set them up. These will be…” He rolls his eyes. “Dates.”
I frown and then lean in closer to my monitor. “Excuse me?Dates? Like romantic dates?”
“Yes.”
“She’s engaged.”
“Not technically.”
“She’s supposed to marry Torin,” I say firmly.
Jonah’s sigh is heavier now. “You know he doesn’t want that.”
Yes, I’m aware of the pouty prince. But we all agreed he’d just have to get over it. “It’s been almost two years. She’s amazing. She’s perfect to be queen. What the hell is his problem?”
I can see Jonah gritting his teeth. “We’ve talked about this,” he says shortly.
Yes, we have.
And as frustrating as it is to me—and it is very fucking frustrating to me—I know it is equally frustrating for Jonah.
His friendship with the prince is, for the most part, a good thing. Just like my friendship with Declan helps him trust me to make decisions that will not only be good for him, but will make him happy. Eventually.
The same goes for Henry and Cian—though Henry definitely puts Cian’s happiness above the bigger picture more than the rest of us do.
Jonah and Torin are the same. Jonah has, at times, pissed Torin off, of course. But the goal of getting Torin on the throne of Cara and married to Linnea Olsen must always come first. And Jonah sleeps well at night, knowing that is how Torin will ultimately be happiest and most fulfilled.
Sometimes we all have to remind him of that.
None of us are doing this on our own.
“I can’t believe Linnea is agreeing to this,” I finally say. It does no good to berate Jonah for Torin’s stubbornness.
“She’s going along with it because she sees these meetings as a good chance to further relationships with these men for Cara’s sake,” Jonah says. “She’s looking at these as business meetings.”
I sigh, feeling a bit of relief at that. At least Linnea is still doing what is expected of her.
“You can’t condone this with Torin, though,” I tell him.