The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 65

“Don’t you just want to see what else you can melt, Clark?” Jackson asks on a long inhale of breath, looking at me with sad eyes. “Come on, I bet you could melt this whole tree if you wanted to.””

–

“Well, one, that’s not good for the environment,” I say, rolling my eyes at him which makes him laugh, just a little. “And two, no, I don’t want to melt the tree I want to talk about you. Honestly, Jackson, I won’t tell anyone you know I won’t. I won’t even let anyone know that I know! I’ll keep your secret.”

“Why does it even matter, Ari?” he asks, looking away from me. “Why do you want to know so badly? It doesn’t change anything.”

A thousand answers flood my mind. That it could help me understand what I can do how. his power compliments mine. That I want to know more about him. That I’m just so damn

curious.

But, in the end, I settle for the truth.

“I want you to know that you have someone here who will keep your secrets, Jackson,” I say quietly, willing him to believe me.

Jackson looks up at me in surprise, his blue eyes wider than I’ve seen them before.

We’re silent again, but as it has been before with us, there’s no awkwardness to it. But then he breaks it.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” he whispers, half baffled and half…suspicious, I realize. Lik

I’ve got ulterior motives or something.

I stare at him, my heart cracking in grief for the lessons his past life must have taught him.

“Jackson,” I murmur, saying his name like a promise. “Why are you so surprised that I genuinely just…want to be nice to you?”

He turns his face away from me like he’s been struck, staring at the ground beneath the tree in shock and surprise. I watch his profile as he swallows heavily, as he presses his lips

together in frustration or…consternation? Honestly, I don’t know what. But I give him the space to process it.

“I don’t have to eat,” he says suddenly, the words falling from his lips in a rush, like they’ve escaped from a dark place and can’t wait to get away.

I ask, confused.

angry as he speaks – but I know not at me. “I don’t have to eat like…ever, if I don’t want to. I mean, eventually, I’d have to eat, but…that’s what I can do.”

say, sitting up straighter. “That is….that is

if I don’t want to, for like…days. Longest I’ve gone is three weeks. And I can

progresses. “And like, nothing happens? You can

“I get really skinny after a while,” he says, shrugging.

that’s magic,” I say, looking him up and down, “Rafe’s as big as you

as I wanted. And I don’t get

look him over anew. “So….could you get as big as an elephant if you kept

“we tried that once. I think my skeleton’s reached its

imagine it. Jackson –

eyes and then rubbing it

Clark, you don’t even want to know. Thank god there

did you just like, experiment? To see how long you could

his face back to me. “Wouldn’t you,

turning my head. “Though didn’t you get bored, when everyone else. was asleep? And like, get sick of the taste of

wide as he laughs. “That’s exactly what happened – and nobody gets that. Like, after eighteen blackberry pies…you never want a slice of pie ever again.”

Jackson,” I sigh, so happy that he told me, so honored that he trusted me enough to keep his secret. “It’s one hell of a power. I wish I could borrow it, would probably keep me up through these long nights of

at our

ask, also looking down.

some sort of connection between our…magic,” he

I think. There’s something between us. But I clench my jaw to keep from blurting it out.

because of whatever connects. our magic,” he says, and I nod,

we experiment with that?”

See if I can pass some energy to

see him talking more casually now, like one would to

because she wants me to tell him my secrets,

to her, stroking a hand over her

but lets me be.

annoying to have so much

studied him. “It all comes down to what I eat. If I eat too much, it manifests in either sleeplessness or weight gain. If I eat too little, I lose muscle.” He