The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0731

I'm honestly not aware of much as we fly to...wherever the hell we're going. I mostly just concentrate on my mom's warm presence at my side, and the soft murmuring things she says to me, even if I don't know what they mean. Still, something about them dulls the

gnawing ache in my heart.

An ache which seems to get bigger and bigger as the moments pass, like a cliff, or a quarry, with unsteady edges - my whole world threatening to just tilt in and smash to pieces at the bottom.

But my mom holds me together. I feel her healing magic sweep through me as she strokes my hair, feel her healing all the little cuts and bruises from the battlefield, the tiny scrapes and bumps. I only lift my head to stop her once, when the magic brushes against the cuts on my palms.

The ones Gibson left with that slash of his knife in the moments before he opened Tony's throat.

"No, please," I croak, shaking my head. "I need them - they're all I have left -"

"Oh sugar," mom whispers, stroking my cheek. "We all have to heal sometime."

I nod, knowing she's right. "Can you - can you not heal it smooth? Can you leave scars?"

"Yes, baby," she whispers. "We'll leave you the scars so your hands can always bear witness to what Tony gave for you. Okay? I promise."

nod, tears slipping down

work, baby," she whispers. I tuck my face back against her shoulder and sob as I feel her magic

she tries to smooth it as best she can, I can feel it take shape into the other scar that I will bear

which claimed me as his minutes

see it I'll remember that moment, that terrible mistake. "Now now, baby," mom murmurs, stroking her hand long over my back. "We'll take

Daphne murmur their support too, and I

ache - it's bone deep. Perhaps deeper, to beyond whatever

the helicopter starts to

- it's small, very elite and - most important to mom - very discreet. I don't know what the hell she must have paid to have the

smiles gently at me and carries me away to our room. There I'm bundled away into a bed in a dark room. Cora and Daphne cuddle in around me, quite quiet, while mom oversees the delivery of cart after cart of

on movies that I don't watch, and we all sit very calmly for a long, long time. Mom gives me a sip of the birth control potion, murmuring something about. case," and then feeds me a few bites of ice cream. I barely taste

drooping.

my head up to glare at her. "You drugged me," I murmur, my lips barely moving as the sleeping medicine she must

mom murmurs, stroking a hand over my hair. "You can

even think about whether or not I'm

me in a very lush robe, her hair lovely and shining as it falls around her shoulders. She