Chapter 125

My brother, seeing the very real grief on my face, stands and moves to my side, pulling into a hug. “You’re getting the best end of this deal,” he murmurs after a moment. Then Rafe loosens his arms and stands between me and my mates, not letting them see the sadness written in every line of me because he knows I need to stand strong in this decision – that I need to make it myself, without them.

“I know,” I whisper, my heart breaking as my brother wipes the two tears that fall quickly off of my cheeks, not wanting them to see. “I get it…it’s just...god, Rafe, I can’t imagine…”

“I know,” he murmurs, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “But neither can they. I think it’s right, Ariel – or if not right, then the fairest. We can – we can talk to mom and Cora when we get home. Maybe talk to the Goddess? See…see if we can get a better perspective. But for right now, this makes peace.”

I take a deep breath, looking up into my brother’s face, and then I nod, working hard to steady myself. When he sees that I’m in control again, Rafe turns around, slipping a protective arm around my shoulders and looking between Luca and Jackson. “So, we’re good with this? We’re agreed?”

“Well, what’s the timeline?” Luca asks, frowning, his hand sunk into his pockets.

“No set timeline,” Rafe replies, looking down at me with a nod. “When Ari knows…she’ll know.”

“So what, we could do this for years?” Luca gasps, appalled.

“It’s enough, Luc,” Jesse snaps from the couch, glaring at him a little. “You’ve already asked her to choose one mate today, and it’s already breaking her heart. Stop trying to pin it down more. She’s given enough.”

Luca huffs a sigh, hanging his head, but after a moment he nods, giving in. “Fine.”

“Jacks?” Rafe asks. My mate doesn’t reply to him, just holding me with his dark-blue gaze. Then, just once, he nods.

“Wow,” Ben murmurs, I think not even realizing that he said it aloud as he looks between all of us. And I have to admit, I share his sentiment. It’s just all…a lot.

And we all stand very, very still, I think none of us having any idea, at all, what to do next.

Suddenly, we all give a collective flinch as the sound of bells peels out from somewhere in the castle.

“Shit,” Rafe gasps, turning towards the sound. “Shit, shit.”

“What is that?” I ask, turning my head almost as if I could see them, though obviously I can’t. “Since when does the castle have bells!? Since when do they ring them!?”

“It’s tradition!” Jesse shouts, jumping up from the couch and hopping over the back of it, darting for his bed. “End of term! Shit, the train is going to be here in like ten minutes, and we haven’t even packed!”

I gasp, suddenly realizing the gravity of this – I haven’t packed at all, not a stitch – and I spin towards my nook. But as I rip the velvet curtain back, I turn with a frown, because there are footsteps –

“Where are you going?” I call, seeing both of my mates heading for the door.

“To get our stuff!” Luca calls over his shoulder, worried. “I’ll meet you at the train, Ariel! It’s fine!”

Jackson doesn’t say a word. I bite my lip, glancing between my possessions and the door, and then decide that I don’t have anything here that I can’t reproduce at home except my homework. I grab my textbook, tossing it to Ben who – already packed – sits casually at the coffee table, sipping from his mug. “Pack that for me!” I shout, darting for the door.

When I get to our open doorway I look left and right, a little grateful when I see that Luca and Jackson have taken different sets of stairs down to the single dorm floors. I bite my lip, shooting a glance in Luca’s direction before darting after Jacks.

“Jackson!” I call, starting down the spiral staircase after him. I’m moving so fast that I almost have to skid to a stop when I realize he stopped in the middle of the stairs, where I couldn’t see him.

“Whoa!” he says, catching me with an arm around my waist before I slam into him or careen down the steps and break my neck.

But there’s no time to think about any o fthat.

“Jacks,” I say, taking his face in my hands, worried. “You’re still coming, right? To the Palace? For break?”

Jackson hesitates, glancing away from me and looking down the stairs.

“Jacks!” I gasp, pulling his face back to look at mine, aghast at the idea that he wouldn’t come. “You said you! You told my mom!”

“Ariel,” he sighs, shaking his head and wrapping the arm around my waist tighter, pulling me closer so that my feet are barely on the stairs anymore, my weight all on him. “It’s just…it’s been a lot, okay? And I’m no good with this…people stuff, and there are going to be a lot of people there for winter break.”

Understatement of the year, but I don’t say anything that will encourage him on this ridiculous idea not to come.

“Maybe it’s better for me to not go?” Jackson says, soft, hesitant. “To just take the next two weeks to get my head together, and stay here where it’s quiet, and then I’ll see you when you get back?”

“Jackson,” I cry, my heart breaking at the idea. God, not seeing him, for two weeks? After everything we’ve been through in the past few days?

He groans, clenching his teeth at the sound I make. “Don’t ask me, Ari,” he whispers, shaking his head, his eyes exhausted and sad. “Don’t ask me for more today, because if you ask, you know I’ll give it – I can’t say no –“

“Baby,” I murmur, taking a hand from his cheek and running it through his hair, not knowing where the pet name came from, not worrying about that now. But Jackson closes his eyes at the sound of it, hardly able to bear it. And even though he’d probably die rather than let anyone hear me call him that…

…I know that he likes it. He likes it a lot.

“It will be good, Jacks,” I whisper, a promise in every word. “I promise it will be good, we won’t push you too far – we’ll…we’ll make sure you’re happy. All of us.”

Jackson opens his eyes, staring up at me, and the bells start to peel again.

Worried, he glances down the stairs, and I know he has to get to his room to get his things.

“Just meet us at the train,” I whisper, again turning his face back to me again before pressing a kiss to his mouth – fast, too short, not at all what I really want to do. I pull back, staring into his eyes. “Just meet us at the train, all right? Jackson?”

“I’ll try,” he whispers, looking up into my face. And I nod, knowing that’s the best I’m going to get right now, and that he means it. He will try, but if it’s too much…

Well, my mate has a tendency to run, doesn’t he?

Jackson kisses me again, just as swift as the last, before carefully putting me on my feet and letting me go. “Get back to your brother,” he growls, narrowing his eyes a little. “Don’t go wandering around this castle by yourself –“

“Oh, they’re ten feet away,” I snap, rolling my eyes and turning to dart up the stairs. “The train, Jacks!” I call over my shoulder. “I’ll see you there!”

But as I hurry up the stairs, he doesn’t call anything after me, and my heart sinks. I hope to the ends of me that he comes, but part of me knows…well, I know that if he was going to come, he would have told me so. He would have promised.

“Ari!” Rafe shouts as I reach the top of the stairs, frowning furiously at me. “Come on!”

I dash to his side, trying to get back into the room, but Jesse and Ben are already at the door, backpacks over their arms.

“I tried,” Ben says, apologetic as he hands me a woefully under-packed bag. “I don’t know which of your things you wanted –“

“It’s fine,” I say, trying my best to give him a smile and slinging the pack over my shoulder.

“Let’s go,” Rafe says, pressing me on the shoulder and turning me back towards the stairs. “We are not missing this train. We are getting home, tonight. To see our parents and our insane passel of siblings.”

“And to drink our faces off.” Jesse murmurs, shooting me a wink as I laugh and the four of us hurry down the stairs. “And get back in touch with all of Ariel’s friends –“

I gasp at that, but Ben laughs and gives me another little shove, making me move forward.

Forward to the train, where I’m supposed to meet my mates – both of them.

And bring them home to meet my family.