The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0569

"It is clear, little daughter, that you and your mates do not understand. So I will say this once to ensure that I am perfectly clear: I did not give you these mates simply because it pleased me to grace you with abundance. I did it because it was necessary to your gift - and

because your gift is necessary to this world. Far, far more than you currently realize."

She stares into my eyes, willing me to understand, and fear creeps into my soul.

"Why...why me?" I whisper, shaking my head. "Why give me this gift?"

"Because you please me," she murmurs, reaching out and cupping my chin in her hand. I can feel her fingers like frost or morning dew against my skin as she slowly tilts my face from side to side, looking at all of its angles. "And because I saw it from the moment you were conceived that the shape of your soul - your courage, your spirit, your slight tendency for recklessness," she smirks here, "was the right match for this gift. Little fireheart." She whispers the last few words and then releases my face, moving further away, just slightly. I marvel, for a moment, that this woman - a Goddess, my grandmother - could have seen so much in me.

"Do not let the petty jealousies of those boys control your destiny, daughter," she continues, straightening and folding her arms over her chest. "I gave them to you, and you are owed their marks as part of your birthright. You must claim them." "Why?" I whisper, shaking my head, not understanding. She raises an eyebrow at the temerity of my question, but I put my hands out to her, placating and pleading at once. "Please, I'm not questioning you, I just don't understand - why do I need their marks with such urgency? Why can't we wait?"

tied you, Ariel." Something twists in me to hear the Goddess say my name and my eyes fill with tears. "You must rise to meet it. Demand from your mates what they owe you - and if they do not give it," she shrugs

at the desk, my chair skittering out behind me as

fiery gaze upon me. "You will receive the marks or I will take my grace from these men and find you new mates deserving

horrified. "I can't just - just - demand that they do it tonight!

raising

That eyebrow, that simple.

"Please," I say, a bit through my teeth, shaking my head and willing her to hear me, "I am listening to everything you say - but marks should not be demanded! They should be freely given an act of love, of connection! I will..." I hesitate here, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it how to say it. I exhale slowly, trying to think of how to find a middle ground between what the Goddess wants and what my mates have

the Goddess asks, considering

I inhale sharply, hoping to hell she says more than just a week. Because how -

inhales slowly, tilting her

the side. "Three months,

Goddess says, her voice cool and smooth. "A quarter of a year - one season - and then..she takes a step closer to me, focking her eyes with mine, making me hear her, "if you do