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He smiles. “Yes.”
“Who’s with him tonight that makes it okay for you to stay behind?”
“There are a couple of security officers from the palace there because of the whole entourage, but Henry is there with Cian and Miles is with Astrid, so Torin is covered by proxy.”
“Is Miles a bodyguard? I thought he was Astrid’s trainer.”
Jonah nods. “He is. But he’s very protective. I don’t expect anyone in Cara will be violent or anything. No one wants to cause them harm. They might just get…exuberant. Miles won’t let anyone get too close or handsy or anything.”
“That makes sense.”
We walk about three hundred yards and as we crest a small rise, I can see light glowing and already hear the sounds of a party. My eyebrows rise. “Is that the pub?”
“It is.”
“Wow.”
He chuckles. “It’s not always quite that loud, but I’m sure Cian, Henry, and Torin are helping make it raucous.”
I study him. “You’re not upset about getting a chance to go in there, are you?” I ask. “You like this.”
He looks over at me. “My years with Torin have been amazing, Abi. He’s…”
He trails off for a second and I nod. “I know.”
Jonah smiles. “Torin is a force of nature. There’s really no resisting smiling and having fun when he’s in your life. There’s no avoiding being fucking frustrated as hell by his stubbornness and exasperated by his impatience, either. But there’s also no avoiding thinking big, taking the world in differently, asking a shit-ton of questions, starting to wonder why about everything—why people do the things they do, why things run the way they do, why can’t we do something else—because of him.”
I feel a warmth in my chest that makes me lift my hand and rub at it. “I’m so glad he has you.”
“He always will.”
We walk for several feet, drawing closer to the light. And noise.
“You’ll always have me too, Abi,” he says.
I look over. “Thank you.”
“Even after the year is over. You can always call me. Any time.”
I nod. But the words make me look back down at the ground as I walk. After the year is over.
It’s so nice to know that Jonah would still be a friend after I leave Cara. I think Linnea will too.
Torin might even be.
But that feels so weird to even think.
He is my friend. I’m closer to Torin than I am to anyone. Even my sisters, I realize. I feel closer to them than I ever have, but they still don’t know me the way Torin does. They don’t make me feel safe and understood and supported the way he does.
I don’t know if anyone else ever will.
“You sure you want to do this?” Jonah asks.
I really don’t.
But then I look up and realize that he’s not talking about me leaving Cara. He’s looking at the squat stone building we’re approaching.
Light is spilling out of a multitude of windows and at least three doors. There’s music, but also voices—laughing, shouting, cheering, and just talking.
