Chapter 883

"Highness!" the voice commands. "Please, highness! Are you all right!?"

"It's been three minutes," Jackson growls.

Gabriel groans and pushes himself up straight, looking into my eyes one last time, devastated. Silently he nods, giving me permission to go.

I smile back at him even as I reach for Jackson's hand. He pulls me shakily to my feet and sniffs my hair, starting back a step and frowning down at me. "Did you..."

"Let's go, Jacks," I say, exhausted and shaky after breaking the bond with my mate.

"Oh my god, Ariel," Jackson murmurs, frustrated. He shakes his head even as he wraps me up in his arms. My eyes are on Gabriel for one last moment as Jackson and I tilt away to the Land of Darkness, leaving the Prince - now King - alone with the corpse of his uncle to face whatever fate awaits him. A fate of his own making, after all.

The Land of Darkness is surprisingly quiet when we arrive. I look around innoveldrama

surprise, searching for the soldiers I saw before. But the only thing I can see is the shadowy enclosure that still holds the God of Darkness - though it shudders once from the inside, clearly starting to weaken.

"Where...is everyone?" I whisper.

"Soldiers went away," Jackson says, heaving an easy shrug, his eyes on me. Softly he pushes back my hair, inspecting my neck. "Well? Where is it?"

"Where's what?" I ask, turning my head to look up at him.

Jackson just raises one eyebrow at me, willing me to remember.

"Oh," I say, laughing and holding out my arm, which continues to ache, looking down at Gabriel's mark still raw and bloody on my wrist. "Sorry, Jacks."

He takes my arm in his hand and glances at my face once before returning his eyes to the wrist. "Did you want it?"

"I asked him for it."

Jackson takes a deep breath and fixes his eyes on mine. "You know what I'm asking you, Ariel."

I smile and pull my arm from his hands, letting it fall to my side as I reach my other arm up, cupping the soft skin of Jackson's neck in my palm. "I wanted the magic, Jacks wanted to collect his mark, as my grandmother told me was my birthright. But the only mark really want is yours. This one?" glance down at the mark. "When it heals? It will already be faded. Yours I will carry forever."

Jackson snarls, possessive, and pulls me close, looking intently down into my face. "Ariel," he sighs, shaking his head as he stares at like I'm the great mystery and

frustration and love of his life

beam back at him, sending all of my love down our bond in a heavy swell. "Can we go home, please?"

"Yes," I say, smiling up into his face, blissfully happy even though we're no where

near out of trouble. "But, um...can you carry me?"

He looks at me with concern, his eyes scanning all over me, looking for a problem. "Why?"

"Because I just rejected my mate, Jacks," I say, laughing and standing on my toes, reaching up, wanting him close. "And I'm all sick and exhausted."

"Oh god, Ariel," Jackson sighs, scooping me up into his arms and holding me close. "Of course I'll carry you." He presses a kiss to my forehead and nuzzling against

warm and generous and kind net

as

always is, even if I now have a second mark that's not his. My

—

Jacks always so good to me.

he

"I love you, Jacks," I whisper, pressing a kiss to his shirt as I rest my head against

his shoulder.

"I love you too, Ariel,” he replies, striding through the land of Darkness, clearly

already knowing where he's headed.

"Where are we going?" I ask with a little frown.

"To my tent," he says with a sigh. "To get my backpack and my ATV. And then we're out of here."

I blink up at him, surprised and confused. "You have a tent?"