Chapter 216

Dad stares at me and then up at Jackson again. “What?” he asks. “I was just being polite –“

“Jacks is…not great with polite,” I say, pressing myself warmly to his side. “Actually, I think he’d probably rather fight you than do the small talk thing.”

Jackson scowls, already coming back to himself a little. “Ari, I don’t want to fight him –“

“I know,” I say, nodding and smiling up into his face. “Just – can we all maybe take a bit of space? Try this again over midwinter, maybe over dinner?” noveldrama

“Or an activity,” Rafe suggests, knowing that even a dinner might be a bit much for Jacks. “Or a great, great deal of whiskey – barrels of it.”

“Enough,” dad snaps good-heartedly at Rafe, waving a dismissive hand at all of us as he turns away. “Fine, fine! We’ll do it all later! I need much more information anyway.”

I grin after him as he walks to the bed with mom at his side, and then I grin between Jacks and Rafe.

“You did great, Jacks,” I whisper, supportive.

“I didn’t…say anything,” he murmurs, glancing after my parents. “Besides, like, my name –“

“But you did that so well,” Rafe says with humorous condescension, patting him on his shoulder with a laugh. I laugh too and Jackson gives a tentative smile, I think giving into it.

Jacks opens his mouth, I think to ask a question, but the door opens again – suddenly, I long for a lock on it – and a professor I don’t recognize comes into the room.

“Um,” he says, looking around, a clipboard in his hand. “I’m looking for Cadets Sinclair, McClintock, and Clark?”

Rafe steps hastily in front of me, asking whether the professor is looking for Jesse or Rafe Sinclair, and in the intervening moment Jackson hands me his cap, which was apparently tucked into his back pocket. Hastily, I loop my hair up onto my head and whip the cap on top. It’s too big, but, in a pinch, it works.

When the professor reveals that he’s looking for Rafe Sinclair, Rafe glances back at me and then nods to him, letting him know that we’re all here.

“Oh, good,” the professor says, looking anxiously over at the King, Queen, and Duchess standing quietly together by the bed, perhaps wondering what the hell is going on. But he doesn’t say anything about that, instead clearing his throat and consulting his paper.

“Well,” he says with a sigh, “the three of you have been marked as passing the Examination –“

I squeal suddenly with delight, throwing myself into Jackon’s arms. He laughs with me, turning me in a circle, giving me a big hug. When we go all the way around before we see the professor at the door giving us a strange look. Jackson just clears his throat and awkwardly lowers me to the floor.

“So,” my mother says, interrupting as the professor starts speaking again. “It’s not an issue that Cadet…Clark…” here she glances at me, and inwardly I cringe at how obvious she’s being, “was carried wounded over the finish line?”

“No, highness,” the professor says, giving her a deferential bow. “The rules are to cross the finish line, full stop. I think,” he glances at my dad here, “they were written that way with this express situation in mind.”

My mouth falls open a bit as I realize that my dad knew this all along because he wrote the rule book – that it’s not a surprise to him, at all, that I’ve passed.

Dad catches my glare and just gives me a little shrug, telling me to deal with it. I roll my eyes at him but let it pass – he’s had a stressful day too.

The professor continues. “Sinclair and McClintock have been given orders to return to the Academy tonight,” he says, lowering the clipboard to his side. “Though Clark has been given special permission to stay overnight to ensure that there are no complications to his injuries. Though…”

He hesitates, not finishing and looking at me strangely because obviously I’m standing before him perfectly hale. I just shrug, not explaining anything.

“Absolutely not,” Jackson growls, stepping forward towards the professor. “I am not leaving Clark here alone.”

The professor steps back, shocked by the defiance and the aggression in Jackson’s eyes.