Chapter 276

“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.” noveldrama

“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.