Chapter 466

Dad starts to get up to answer the door when mom comes flying out of her room, waving a hand at dad. Cora follows soon after, pulling the door shut and nodding to Roger and Jacks to let them know that their daughters are asleep.

I turn my head to stare between Roger and Jackson, a little baffled, suddenly, when I realize that…these two men, from completely different generations, have daughters the same age.

“I know, right?” Jackson murmurs on a sigh, taking a big sip of his drink. I burst into laughter.

“Sit sit!” mom calls to us, grinning. “That’s for me. Timing couldn’t be better.”

“Who is it?” Rafe asks with a frown.

“My crew!” Mom says, gleeful as she pulls open the door and waves in her favorite construction manager – a workman with whom she has had a relationship for years. “This way, this way!” she says, waving the foreman and all of his workers forward. My eyes go wide when I see that they’re carrying quite a bit of wood and tools.

“What – what are you doing?” I ask, baffled.

“Oh, I wanted it to be a surprise,” mom says, biting her lip and folding her hands behind her back. “But…Markie? Do you want to tell?”

All of our eyes turn to Mark, who sits next to me and blushes. “Well, Marigold needs a room, right?” he says.

I just stare at him for a second, blinking, before my eyes go wide. “Mark, no!”

He just laughs and shrugs. “Come on, I need to move out of my little kid room sometime. This way I get to move to swanky bachelor quarters down the hall and Marigold gets her own space. And since our rooms have an adjoining wall –“

“We’re building a door!” mom squeaks, excited, unable to let Mark finish without bursting in. She clasps her hands excitedly beneath her chin, her eyes moving between me and Jacks, desperate to know what we think.

“Oh my god,” I breathe, pressing a hand to my chest. “No way! Mark, that’s too generous – that’s been your room since you were a kid –“

“What – what is happening…” Jackson asks with a frown, still not getting it.

“I’m giving Marigold my room,” Mark explains, smiling warmly at Jacks. “And since she’s so little, mom is building a door between your rooms so you can check on her without having to use the hall.”

Jackson gapes at Mark, and then at me, and then down at the baby monitor. And then he dips his head down into his palm, overwhelmed and touched.

All the women in the room bite back an instinctive coo at Jackson’s overwhelmed state while the men smile warmly at him, understanding.

“And you don’t have to live here, if you don’t want to – though of course you’re welcome to,” mom says, coming and sitting close to Jackson and me on the couch, putting a hand on his arm. “I just…when you are here – which I hope will be often – you need more space. And Markie’s right, he’s growing out of his room –“

“I would like it stated,” Rafe says, a bit dry, drawing all eyes to him as he raises a glass of whiskey alongside his declaration. “That some of us are not this generous and have no intention of giving up their room to any future children. My room is my room, forever. In fact, in the many future generations of Sinclair children to come, I would like my room preserved in perpetuity, precisely as I leave it. And no one’s allowed to touch my stuff.”

I burst out laughing at my brother, shaking my head at him, my whole family joining in as the crown prince finishes off his drink and gets up for another one, winking at us.

I turn my eyes back to Jacks, grateful for my brother, realizing that his joke made a little space for Jackson to collect himself. I grin at Rafe, who nods to me and gives me a tiny little shrug.

“Thank you, Ella, and Mark,” Jackson says, looking at them seriously. Then, to my surprise, he turns his eyes to me. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” I say, nodding eagerly. “I mean, it will be so easy to check on her next door – and we can make the room so cute, decorate it however she likes –“

“No, Ariel,” Jackson says, laughing a little and putting a hand on my knee. “What do you think in like, a larger sense. Do you…want to live here?”

I sit up straight in a bit of surprise. “I…do live here,” I say quietly, not getting it. “This is my home.”

“I mean permanently,” Jackson says, turning more completely to me now with a small frown. “Like, is this where you want to be to raise Marigold? Here, where you grew up. Is that best?”

I just stare at him, realizing finally –

Stupidly –

What everyone else has probably put together.

That…that we have to live somewhere. Somewhere steady, and solid, where Marigold can go to school and have a schedule and a routine. Where she can participate in activities with other children and make friends.

But…

“But we have to go back to the Academy!” I blurt out, staring wide-eyed at Jackson.

Jackson stares back at me and my family goes dead quiet for a second before turning politely away and starting little mini conversations, pretending to give us time to discuss this amongst ourselves while they very clearly – at least to me – continue to listen with rapt attention.

Jackson is quiet for a moment before smiling softly, raising a hand to my cheek. “You go back to school, Ariel,” he says, cupping my face, shaking his head at me a little bit. “It’s so important to you, I know that – and you should finish, it’s just another year –“

“Jackson!” I gasp, smacking his hand away. “We’re – we’re both going back to school! We’re both finishing Alpha Academy!”

He hesitates for a moment, his shoulders slumping. “Ariel, I have to put Marigold before my own wants right now – I have to stay here –“

“Why!?” I ask, my eyes going wide in my panic.

He just stares at me, confused.

“Ariel, our room is crowded enough,” Jesse says, wandering over, perfectly casual, as if we’re talking about sports or the weather. “Where would you even propose to put a third bed?”

“She can have yours,” I snarl, glaring hard at him, not in the mood for jokes.

Jesse smirks and takes a sip of his drink. “Touche. Problem solved. I’m in on this plan.”

“Jackson’s not wrong,” my dad says quietly, all eyes turning to him. Everyone goes quiet as dad shakes his head, sorrow warring with firm reality on his face. “It’s clearly stated in the school’s rules that enrolled students are not allowed to bring family and loved ones. Technically, enrolled Alphas are supposed to be single to avoid precisely this situation and so that the young men can focus on their education.”

I lean forward towards my father, just as firm and starting to get mad. “It’s also a rule that enrolled students had to be male, but I threw that right out the door!”

Dad’s mouth presses into a thin line as he considers me. “Exceptions were made for you, Ariel. But if we begin to throw out rule after rule, when does it end?”

“When I say it ends!” I shout, livid suddenly.

“Ariel,” my father says, his voice a low warning, scolding me like I’m a child.

But that just stokes my fire a bit more. “After everything that happened these past few months,” I growl, my own voice dropping low as I glare hard at my father. “After everything that I and Jackson did for this nation – this? This is what is causing a stumbling block to his happiness!? To our happiness!? That you just don’t let kids in the castle!?”

“I –“ my father begins, leaning forward, but I don’t let him get far, rising to my feet to glare around the room.

“This man is a hero in this war,” I snap, pointing at Jackson. “This man saved me and killed your enemy with his teeth in his neck! And this is how you show your gratitude!?” I sneer at my father, and at Roger, knowing that they’re the ones who wrote the rules.