Chapter 409

I wrinkle my nose at her and lean forward, nodding. “It really is great, Pip. Especially…especially if you love them. I know that Elias is your best friend and he’s good to you. But…I want more for you than that.”

She takes a deep breath and looks away, shaking her head slightly. “Oh, I don’t know if that’s in the cards for me.”

“Maybe it will be,” I say softly. “When we get you to Moon Valley. And don’t worry,” I say with a smile. “I won’t let any of those big Alphas go anywhere near you until you want them to.”

She lets out a long breath as she smiles. “Yeah. But. Maybe one day…I’ll want them to.”

I smile back, my heart singing with joy and hope for her.

Before I can say more, though, a soft knock comes at the door.

“That will be the tea,” Pippa says with a sigh, rising to her feet. “Do you mind if the maid comes in? It will be a woman, of course.”

“No, I don’t mind,” I say, wrapping my arms around my knees as Pippa moves to the door. “I could use a cup.”

I stare idly at the water for a little bit as the maid wheels a little trolly in and Pippa thanks her politely for her service.

But I go very still the moment the maid begins to speak.

“This one is for the Princess,” the maid says, calm and quiet. And even though I’ve never heard this person’s voice be calm and quiet except in the deadliest of situations, I’d recognize it anywhere. My head whips up. “We heard in the kitchens that she is entering her Confinement, so we included a few pain tablets on the saucer.”

Even as I stare, frustration grows in me at the fact that apparently everyone in the castle knows that I’ve started my period.

But there’s no time for that thought as I lock eyes with the maid for a single moment before turning away, remembering my lessons. Remembering everything that she, indeed, taught me.

Because Faiza would be deeply ashamed if she worked so hard to get into my room at the Atalaxian palace only to be unmasked now.

I don’t look at Faiza as she leaves, though I desperately want to take another look at the false nose she’s wearing, as well as the grey hair that’s aged her at least twenty years. Is it a wig? Or has she dyed it? She goes and I just sit idly in the bath, hoping desperately that Pippa can’t sense the new pounding of my heart.

“Do you want these tablets?” Pippa asks, pouring out two cups of tea and looking askance at my saucer. “It’s probably too early for your cramps to be hitting as hard as they will – I can just toss them aside and we’ll get fresh ones later. Or oh wait, darling, your jaw –“

“Yes, I’ll take them now,” I say, doing my best not to sound too eager. Pippa just nods to me, understanding, and brings the two cups of tea over, sitting next to me and handing me my cup.

It takes an incredible amount of willpower for me to quietly sip my tea, not even looking down at the two little pills until Pippa gets up to fetch me a new robe, my bath finished.

But when I do glance down, a little thrill runs through my heart.

Because just as I suspected, they’re not pain killers at all.

No, I recognize these anywhere - Neumann taught us to recognize cyanide by sight, smell, and taste.

Very carefully I palm the pill-shaped poison in my dried hand as I stand and allow Pippa to help me into my robe. And then I slip them quietly into my pocket as we move into the other room to pick out clothes for me tonight.

And all the time, even as I chat with Pippa, my mind whirls with how to wield this new power.

Because with this little gift, suddenly everything has changed.

Jesse lounges back on his new cot in the yurt, his head nestled against a soft pillow. He runs his hands idly over his stomach, which is distended with too much cake. He smiles as he turns his head and observes as Midnight happily sets new order to her “kitchen,” finding places for all of the new pots and cooking tools that Juniper and the rest of the kind people in the Fancy House sent home with them.

God, but it was good to see June, even if all it did was make him worry more. He hadn’t even known she was gone. And if he hadn’t known that - what on earth could be happening with the rest of his family? Were they even…okay?

“You want more cookies?” Midnight asks cheerfully, putting away the last of her new dishtowels and beaming over at him.

“No, I don’t think I’ll ever eat another cookie ever again,” Jesse sighs, smiling at her.

She frowns at him. “That’s ridiculous, Jesse. Cookies are delicious. Why would you even say that?”

He just heaves a happy sigh. “I don’t know, kid. I was joking.”

She narrows her eyes at him, trying to figure out what about that could be funny, and he laughs.

Midnight turns her head at Jesse, curious. “Why are you upset? We have so many nice new things – how could you be upset?”

Jesse frowns at her. “How’d you know I was upset?”

“You get a big line,” she murmurs, drawing a finger between her own eyebrows and the perfectly smooth skin there. “It’s all angry and bothered, like you got scratched by a weasel.”

Jesse laughs again. “How on earth do you know what weasels are?”

“We have Weasels of Darkness here, Jesse,” she says, looking at him with wide eyes and nodding seriously. “You do not want to mess with them.”

Jesse laughs again but her face falls into a frown.

“Seriously, Jess,” she says, her shoulders slumping. “Our lives are so good right now. Better than they’ve ever been. And soon your Juniper will be Queen of the Underworld – she’s much prettier than the seal girl. Why are you so sad?”

“Because, Mids,” Jesse says, reaching out a hand for her. She quickly scurries to the side of his new single-person cot, taking his hand. “Seeing June just made me worried about the rest of my family. You took me away from a war. They could be hurt, or dying. I can’t help them while I’m here.”

She frowns, squeezing his hand, and he can tell that even if she doesn’t fully understand…she wants to.

“Please, Midnight,” Jesse says, looking at her earnestly. “Please take me back. Take us back.”

She snarls, her eyes going dark, and she whips her hand from his. “I’m not taking you there, Jesse.”

“Please,” he begs, sitting up, reaching for her hand again, wanting to honestly plead his case. “My family is all there – our family – it will be so good –“

“Your family is there, but so is that whore.” Midnight bares her teeth as she glares at her mate.

Jesse just drops his hand and doesn’t say anything, because Midnight’s not wrong. He has been thinking about Daphne – dreaming about her every night - even if he feels guilt about it with every breath he takes, because he knows it’s not fair to Midnight or to Daph. But still, he can’t help it – he’s still in love with her. His wolf howls the confirmation in his soul.

“I am never taking you there,” Midnight snarls, standing sharply up and storming across the yurt, grabbing her little purple backpack as she goes.

“Then take me to the Atalaxians!” Jesse pleads, pushing even though he knows he shouldn’t – he knows that Midnight doesn’t budge when she’s lost her temper like this. “I want to see what they’re building! You should show me!”

“No!” Midnight shouts, ducking behind a little folding screen that effectively cuts the yurt into two separate sections. Juniper gave it to them vaguely “for privacy,” but Jesse is very glad to have it. It has been…challenging, to say the least, to share a one-room yurt with his strange little mate.

Jesse just sighs, turning his head back up to the ceiling. “What are you doing over there?” he calls, wondering about the choice to bring the purple backpack.

“I’m learning about getting the pups!” Midnight shouts back, still peeved. “I’ll give you the pups, and then you’ll want to stay! Everyone says so!”

Jesse groans inwardly but just turns his head back up to the roof of the yurt, mildly miserable now. He sighs, wondering how one can be so miserable after eating such quantities of cake. Surely, the two states cannot co-exist.

He sits, pondering on it for a long few quiet moments, when suddenly a horrified squeak sounds from behind the screen.

“Midnight?” Jesse calls, sitting up, worried. “Are you okay?”

Suddenly she storms out from behind the screen, the book Juniper gave her clutched tight in one hand, her face furious.

Jesse’s eyes go wide as she hurls the book at his head.

“How dare you, Jesse Sinclair!” Midnight shouts, enraged.

“What did I do!?” Jesse gasps as he dodges the book and then turns back to Midnight, stunned.

“If you think I am doing any of that!” Midnight continues, her arms stiff at her sides, her hands clenched in fists, “to give you a pup! Then…! Then…!”

As he sees her struggling for words, Jesse can’t help it as his face bursts into a wide grin. “The idea of getting a pup is not so appealing now, is it?”

“You stay away from me, Jesse Sinclair!” Midnight shouts, livid. “And you keep your clothes ON!” She storms out of the yurt, clearly needing a minute.

Jesse just turns on his stomach and laughs and laughs into his pillow, desperately needing to let it out even as he doesn’t want her to hear. Because he knows his laughter would hurt her feelings, and above all things…

Well, above all things, he just wants Midnight to be happy, and healthy, and safe, and loved.

Which means getting her the hell out of here.

But how on earth is he ever going to convince her to leave?