Chapter 454

My eyes flash at this because...what?

“They're citizens, aren't they?" I ask, sitting up straighter and looking between Jackson and my father. "Of Moon Valley?"

"They are," dad says, nodding to me. "The lands the Community lives on are within the borders of Moon Valley - everyone born there has the rights of a citizen."

"That's not how they think of it," Jackson murmurs, looking down at the table.

"What do you mean?" dad asks.

My mate lifts his eyes to meet my father's. "I mean that...if they draw maps, they would draw the borders differently. They understand the Community to be a sovereign nation within itself. I mean, no one talked to me about it - not in those terms. But the way we were asked to think of ourselves? They...certainly do not think of you as their King, sir. And they do not at all see the laws of Moon Valley as applying to them."

"You keep saying 'them," Hank says quietly, curiosity thrumming in his voice. "Jackson, do you...not understand yourself as a member of the Community?"

"Not anymore," Jackson says instantly, turning his gaze to Hank. "Ella and Ariel know this - but I had some time living in the Capital before I came to school here, time during which I was meant to acclimate myself to Moon Valley customs so that I would not stand out so much at the Academy."

Mom's mouth twitches a little, like she's aware that three months was not nearly enough. But Hank and my dad stay still, letting Jackson continue. "During that time," Jackson says, moving quickly now, I think not wanting to remember it, "I...learned a great deal about the world, and about Moon Valley, and all the things that the Community purposefully kept from me. All the lies they told me, which they asked me to believe were true."

He hangs his head now and I tighten my hand in his, wishing there was something else I could do to make this easier for him.

"I made a decision in those three months," Jackson says quietly, looking down at the table, "even before I met Ariel that...I was never going back. What they do to people is not...right. I'm not stupid," he says, raising his eyes again and looking hard at my father and Hank, “but...I am ignorant. What I don't know about this world could fill a library - but I do know that what the Community does to its people is wrong. That there should be more...free will. If that's a thing."

My heart breaks for my mate as it does every time he tells me about his life in the Community. Once glance at my mother lets me know that she's feeling the same. Dad, however, remains stoic, his eyes on Jackson.

"I have to ask you, son," dad says, his voice tight and stern. "Why the Community would risk your learning so much about the world by sending you away. Why did they send you to the Academy."

Jackson straightens shoulders and looks my dad in the eye. “I was sent as a spy, sir,” he says, solid and even.

My eyes flare in shock at this bland confession.

Jackson glances towards me but then looks back at my father. "It's not a secret - it's never been," he says, shaking his head. "I told both Ariel and Ella that I was sent to the Academy to learn cutting edge military techniques and technologies. That when I felt I had learned enough I was expected to drop out and desert, to return to the Community to share that knowledge with them."

Dad raises his own eyebrows in surprise, glancing between me and my mom, perhaps wondering why we didn't tell him this. I blush terribly - but honestly, Jackson isn't doing that anymore, so why would I tell?

"And are you still a spy?" dad asks, returning his hard gaze to Jackson.noveldrama

"I am not," Jackson says, almost harsh in his vehemence. "I'm never going back there. I'm not telling them a damn thing."

Dad studies my mate for a moment, clearly working hard to decide whether or not he's telling the truth. My spine stiffens at dad's even needing to think about it and I glare hard at my father, even though he doesn't look at me.

"You're enrolled in a military academy and receiving a salary from Moon Valley, Jackson," my father says, straightening up and leaning across the table a bit to look hard at Jackson, to impress him with the depth of his meaning. "Part and parcel of your education and your pay is the assumption that you're willing to fight for our nation. If you're no longer allied with the Community, does that mean you understand yourself as a citizen of Moon Valley now? Are you a patriot?"

Jackson takes a long moment to stare at my father, his throat working hard. Then slowly, without looking at me, he squeezes my hand. “No sir,” he says quietly, looking hard at my father. "It does not."

My gasp rings out in the silence of the room.