Chapter 468

Midnight stares between Jesse and I with a frown. “What?” she asks. “What’s surprising about this?”

“You’d really come and take care of Marigold?” I whisper, shocked and a little thrilled. I mean, I never even thought about hiring a nanny – but then again, I haven’t thought about much of anything at all in the past few minutes besides how mad I am at my dad –

“Wait, you’re enrolling in Alpha Academy!?” Jesse asks, a bit awed.

“Well, if Ariel can do it, I can too,” Midnight says, casting out a hand towards me. “After all, I am much tougher and more powerful than she!”

“Oh, try me, Mids,” I say, dry, grinning as I unfurl my hand, a blue flame flicking to life there.

Midnight grins wickedly as shadows shoot out from her, leaping for the flame in my hand. I gasp at first when the shadows hit my flame, feeling it like a true impact, but then I grin when I see the two forces grappling with each other. I laugh, putting a bit more power in it, and my flames gobble up her shadow.

“See?” I say, cheerful, grinning at her. “I win.”

“Not fair,” she snarls, pouting as she crosses her arms over her chest. “You got all those Goddess perks. If it was still just your red fire I could take you out.”

“I believe you,” I say, flicking my fire away. “We should experiment more with it, though. Could be helpful for both of us.”

Midnight looks at me with a bit of suspicion for a moment, well aware that my fire can burn away the darkness in her soul, but then she nods. I smile, genuinely warm by the trust she has in me.

“Pardon me,” Jesse says, polite and sarcastic, “can we please get back to the point here? Mids, are you serious about wanting to enroll in the Academy?”

She shrugs, turning towards him. “Well, if that’s where you’re going, that’s where I want to be. And I certainly don’t want to waste my time sitting around all day, so I will want to go to lessons. Miss Ella says I can go to school, after all.”

“Are you ready for school?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. “The Academy is very rigorous, Mids – and I know you’re clever, but can you…do advanced math and stuff?”

“I can do plenty math,” Midnight growls, turning her glare on me.

“Okay, but like, what about a basic understanding of chemistry?” I ask, tucking my hair back behind my ears, thinking that she – like me – certainly doesn’t have the physique for Warrior track, so she very likely would be Espionage, like me.

And what a hell of a spy she’d be.

Or, Ambassador, but…well, my wolf rolls onto her back in my soul, laughing at the prospect.

“What’s chemistry?” Midnight snaps out, still glaring.

Slowly, I smile.

Midnight’s eyes narrow further. “If I knew what that word meant, I’d likely be offended by your suggestion that I didn’t know anything about it. But I probably do. I’m very smart, Ariel, I can do everything.”

“Well, I mean, you’d have some time to catch up,” I say eagerly. “It’s only March now, and enrollment isn’t until September –“

“Whoa, whoa,” Jesse says, sitting up a little, anxious. “Are we – have we decided on this? Is this our plan?”

“Do you not want her to enroll?” I ask, bristling a little.

“You stop that,” Jesse snaps, pointing a finger at my face. “You know I was always Team ‘Girls in the Academy.’ I’m just saying let’s…think about this for a moment. Consider if it’s what Midnight really wants amongst her plethora of options.”

“Well, if you think you’re just going to be springing off to the Academy and leaving me behind to sit on the palace roof for the next few months,” Midnight says, sitting quite straight and proud. “That’s certainly not going to happen.”

Jesse nods consideringly, accepting her thoughts on this issue.

“I think it’s a good plan,” Midnight says, nodding like it’s finished. “I’ll come and study Chemas-tree and ensure the pup doesn’t die.”

I bite my lip, wondering, because while it would solve one problem for me…does it create more for Jesse? And for Daphne? I mean, when I spoke to my friend yesterday via videocall she was still visibly devastated about losing Jess to a fated mate. Will bringing Midnight around rub salt in the wound?

But then again…will keeping Midnight away for Daphne’s sake be completely unfair to Mids?

“Why don’t we…take a few days to think on this,” Jesse says, his face unusually serious, nodding to both of us. “It’s a good idea but I don’t think it does a great deal of harm to…consider all sides of the equation.”

“Okay,” Midnight says with a shrug. She lifts her eyes to me. “Does Jackson even want to return to school now that he has a pup? The book says that some mothers do not want to return to their jobs once they have a baby so they can concentrate on rearing it properly.”

I smile at her, charmed again. “I don’t know. Maybe I should have asked before I flipped out, hmm?”

“Probably,” she says with a shrug, taking another long sip of her drink as she carefully considers me. “Do you want a puppy, Ariel? Because if it’s your mate’s puppy, it’s going to be around and stuff. You might not like that. I would hate that.”

I laugh a little, leaning back against one hand and taking a long sip from my wine as I consider the question. “I think…that yes, I do want her. I want her very much. She’s part of Jackson, and that’s beautiful to me, and I’m sure as time passes I’ll learn that she’s beautiful unto herself as well. I’m excited to get to know Marigold as she grows up – that’s one of the delights of having a pup, I think. Getting to see who they become, loving them as they grow.”

Midnight just stares at me like I’m crazy. “Do you want like…more pups after this one? Like eighteen?”

I laugh and shrug. “Maybe not eighteen. But…yeah, sure, I always imagined that some day I’d have kids. Maybe not in my early twenties, and maybe not starting with a mysterious four-year-old child dropped on my doorstep. But certainly I will want more children someday.” I smile a little at the thought – of a passel of pups that are half me and half Jacks.

My heart warms and my wolf lets out an excited little yip.

“Gross,” Midnight says on a sigh, bursting the bubble of my happy fantasy and making me break out in laughter. She smiles at me, though, like she supports my dream even if it is not her own. “I am very glad that Jesse and I do not want pups.”

“Oh, I want pups,” Jesse says, making both of us spin our heads towards him.

“What!?” Midnight breathes, horrified.

“Like Ariel said,” Jesse says with a casual shrug, “timeline is important here. I do not want kids anytime soon. But someday, way down the line? A couple of kids to keep me laughing?” He shrugs. “My dad did it in his forties. I could see giving myself twenty more years of debauchery before I allow myself to be domesticated.”

I grin at Jesse, pleased by this. He’s just…so good with kids, so wonderful with his siblings – in some ways imagining him forever childless is a great shame. But one look at Midnight lets me know that…she is not at all on the same page.

“Jesse, I am never having pups,” Midnight whispers.

“I respect that,” Jesse says, raising his glass to her, quite serious.

The yurt goes quiet and I look between this pair, honestly wondering where they’re going to end up. Because twenty years is a long time and either of them could change their minds. But if they don’t?

Where…where does that leave them?

We spend a little more time together up in the yurt, Jesse smoothly changing the subject to something idle and easy. We sip at our drinks and talk casually, but as I look around it’s very clear that we’re each in our own heads, worrying over our own problems, trying to figure out our own independent futures.

I turn towards the door of the yurt an hour or two later, recognizing Mark’s voice. “Ariel?”

“Hey, Markie!” I call.

The yurt’s flap is pushed aside and Mark gives us a small smile. “May I, Midnight?”

“You may, Mark Sinclair,” Midnight says, quite magnanimous.

Mark grins and steps in, fixing his eyes on me. “I think you should come down. They’ve been talking and I don’t think dad’s ready to give in but…Jacks, I think, is missing you.”

“Oh heavens,” I say on a sigh, guilt rushing in me. “I haven’t been a very supportive mate, have I?”

“Nobody’s mad about you taking a minute for yourself, Ari,” Mark says as I push to my feet. Jesse does too, collecting our glasses and murmuring his farewells to Midnight, promising to come up again later.

“That’s very nice of you to say, Markie,” I say, stepping close and wrapping an arm around his waist, smiling up at him. “But I’ve taken more than a minute and I need to beg forgiveness.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll give you hell for it and refuse to accept your apology,” Mark says, sarcastic, rolling his eyes.

I laugh and call my goodbyes to Mids, following my little brother out of the yurt and back into the palace, our cousin only a few steps behind.