Chapter 138

I move fast down the hall, Jackson at my heels, and I hope desperately that we’re lucky enough to evade the guards who prowl these halls at night. I mean, we haven’t had a problem with being attacked in our own Palace…ever? So the guards are few and far between. But still, we’ve got to move fast – because if they see us, they’re definitely going to tell my mom that I’m out of bed.

And I really, really want nothing more right now than a few stolen hours with Jackson.

My mate runs after me, shaming me a bit with his speed and his silence, and I can feel the joy pulsing through him as we go. He’s checking his steps, I know, to let me take the lead – but then again, I’m the one who knows where to go. When I get to the end of the hall I fling open a door and wave him through, whispering “to the top! All the way up!”

Jackson sends a gorgeous grin over his shoulder before he starts to run up the stairs, so sweet and handsome that it makes me stumble in my steps a bit. But I recover quickly, dashing up after my mate. When Jacks gets to the top of the fourth flight he pushes open the only door there, and steps out onto our rooftop garden.

“Whoa,” he says, going still so fast that I almost bang into him.

“Move!” I say, laughing, not bothering to be quiet anymore as I give him a playful shove out of the doorway and press the door shut behind us. Jackson obliges, stepping out into the garden and looking around.

“What is this place?” he whispers, a bit in awe, turning and taking in the four ancient, gnarled olive trees that stand in the four corners of our garden. Scattered fruit trees grow between them, as well as lots of pretty little potted roses and herbs, creating the effect of a very charming little orchard garden. Along the southern wall there’s an outdoor kitchen all set up and fully stocked, and next to that a little shed that contains everything we need to make a picnic.

“Mom was worried we weren’t getting enough sunshine when we were kids,” I say, moving to the shed and pulling out some blankets and pillows, handing them to my mate, who follows. “So, she built us this little garden. She said kids are like plants – they need sunshine to grow.”

Jackson murmurs something that sounds like assent as I move to the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” I ask, pulling open the little fridge and pulling out a bottle of white wine, pouring us each a glass. “There’s food, if you want it.” I nod towards the cabinets and the fridge, which I know will be packed with food.

“I’m not hungry,” Jackson says, watching me curiously and peering around. “You guys keep…food up here?”

“We keep food everywhere,” I say, grinning at him and nodding my head to the side, silently asking him to follow me to the center of the garden, where you can see the stars between the branches of the trees if you lay down on the ground. “Mom didn’t grow up with much, so she has kind of a scarcity mindset. She stocks snacks all around the Palace so that if anyone ever feels a single hunger pang, she can be on it. Plus, growing up, Rafe did eat pretty much constantly. So it was kind of necessary. And Markie’s doing the same.”

I trade Jackson the wine for the blankets and spread one out on the thick plushy grass before I scatter the pillows around. Then I sink down onto the blanket, patting the ground next to me, inviting Jackson to sit. He does, handing me one of the glasses. “Your mom didn’t grow up with much?” he asks, a little confused. And I guess that makes sense – mom wears her Queen status like she was born to it.

“Mom was an orphan,” I say, peering at Jacks, curious that he didn’t know this. I thought everyone in the country knew mom’s story. “She and Aunt Cora grew up together in the orphanage – it was only when they were all grown up that they found out that they were biological half-sisters. Daughters of the moon goddess.”

“Yesss,” Jackson says, narrowing his eyes at me a little in a playful way. “This bizarre little bit of trivia was mentioned earlier with a promise of an explanation later. Can I have that now?”

I laugh, nodding and scootching close to Jackson so that I’m pressed to his side, and Jacks winds his arms around me as I give him the quick version of mom and dad’s history – how they thought mom was a human, how she was accidentally pregnant with dad’s baby due to some shenanigans at a sperm bank, how they fell in love and uncovered a world of secrets while she was pregnant with Rafe. Jacks listens carefully as I speak and I lean against him, curling into his side and looking up into his handsome face as I tell it.

“That’s really weird,” he says when I’m finished, stroking my cheek with his hand, and I laugh at the simplicity and the understatement of his chosen three words. “So, your magic comes like…immediately from the moon goddess? A gift from her?”

“I think so,” I say, giving a little shrug. “That’s what she called it when mom and Cora talked to her, after all. A ‘gift.’ She said all of her grandchildren would be likewise gifted. Do you know where yours comes from?”

Slowly he shakes his head. “No idea.”

“Well, maybe it’s also a gift,” I say, considering it as I stare up into his blue eyes, his dark head framed against the night sky. “After all, she clearly knows about you, if she picked you out as my mate.”

“That’s so weird,” he whispers, his eyes going a little distant, “to think that the Goddess…knows about me. I’ve always felt so…anonymous and inconsequential my whole life. I never in a million years would have thought the Goddess had an eye on me.”

“Of course she does,” I say, lifting a hand to idly stroke his chest. “You’re like…really good looking, Jacks. And she’s a woman after all.”

“Don’t be creepy,” he murmurs, his eyes focusing on me as he smirks. “That’s your grandmother.”

I burst out laughing, shaking my head at him. “I don’t like you thinking of yourself as inconsequential, Jacks,” I say with a sigh, nuzzling closer. “You’re everything.”

Jackson smiles at me, I think touched, and strokes my face with his thumb. “The city makes me feel more inconsequential, I think,” he says, lifting his head to peer around, though we can’t see the city around us from this part of the roof. “Though…being around these trees helps.” I nod, understanding. Mom was very careful in selecting the placement of our little roof garden – it feels very secluded up here – like our own little bit of nature. And I’m well aware that Jacks feels more comfortable in natural spaces than surrounded by stone.

I tilt my head to the side, wondering if I’d subconsciously considered that when I decided to bring him up here tonight. There’s a whole Palace’s worth of rooms to hang out in, after all. And I picked the roof.

“Do you hate it? The city?” I ask quietly, genuinely wanting to know. Because, I mean, for better or for worse the city is my home, and if I’m going to be a part of this royal family at least part of my time will be spent here. If Jackson hates it…well, that will make things difficult, won’t it?

“I hated it at first,” he murmurs, thoughtful. “It’s better with you here.”

“Wait,” I say, sitting up a little and peering at him. “It was worse for like…the fifteen minutes you waited for me to get off the train? What was so bad about that?”

“No, Ari,” he says, shaking his head and laughing a little. “It was worse for the three months when I lived here.”

“What!?” I squeak, starting back a little and then smacking him on the chest, making him laugh harder. “Jackson! You lived here!?”

“Well, yeah!” he says, still laughing, pleased that he surprised me and made me squeak. He likes doing that, I know – I can feel it down the bond. “Did you think I went straight from my weird cult up North to the Academy?”

“Well, yeah!” I say, fascinated now and dying to hear this story.

“Nah,” he says, smirking and shaking his head. “I would have been…a disaster, if I’d have done that, and the men who sent me to the Academy knew that. I would have been so shocked at the way people act and talk, so…out of the loop of the culture. They sent me to live in the city for three months first, so I could become acculturated, not stand out so much.”

I hesitate, grimacing a little, putting my hands flat on my sweetheart’s chest. “I hate to break it to you, Jacks,” I say softly, “but you…still kind of stood out. As a complete and total weirdo.”

He laughs, grabbing me to him and pulling me tight against his chest, muttering all sorts of dark things about how dare I call him a weirdo and how he’s going to make me pay for that slander. But I just laugh, because his joking threats are nonsense to me, and I climb into his lap and let him wrap me up warm against him, so pleased and happy to be here in his arms.

“I know,” he says with a sigh against my hair, nodding and holding me tight. “I was a disaster at the Academy too, which is why you were my only friend, even after I tried to kill you a little bit. But if you think I was bad then, you should have seen me when I first arrived in the city.”

“Tell me,” I whisper, raising a hand to cup his cheek, loving the way the start of his stubble feels against my palm.

And, to my delight, Jackson begins to tell me more of his story.