The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0792 But the way she'd ushered him inside and showed him her home...he'd hadn't had the heart to do anything but tell her how comfortable and lovely the place was. But it was a lie, blatant and boldfaced. The entire yurt contains one small sleeping mat, her "kitchen" - which is just a couple of baskets filled with the bare necessities of cooking supplies and several small, grey potatoes - and the saddest little collection of children's books that he's ever seen, alongside a single half-burned candle and a pack of matches.

"Galushka," Midnight says, spooning some out onto a tin plate and setting it aside at her "table" - a worn red rug spread across a plank of wood next to the fire - before patting the floor, a clear invitation to come sit. "Is my own recipe. It's shadow cabbage all cooked down until it's nice and burney. The burning gives it the flavor."

"What's shadow cabbage?" Jesse murmurs, crawling across the floor and taking his place at the table, feeling of all things like he's at one of his siblings' imaginary tea parties.

"I don't know," Midnight murmurs, giving him a little glare. "It's...that," she says, nodding her head towards his plate as she dishes out her own. "It's a vegetable. It grows here. That's what it's called."

Jesse nods and picks up his plate, grimacing inwardly at the sad grey vegetable on his plate and picking up his fork, digging in. His wolf snarls and scratches at his soul. You'd better pretend that's the most delicious cabbage you ever ate, his wolf orders. You'd better be nice to that poor girl. Jesse nods and sighs again, silently agreeing to it. Quite cheerful, Midnight settles down across from him and begins to dig into her breakfast.

"So, Mids," Jesse says, forcing himself to forget about the tasteless lump of vegetable in his mouth as he chews. "What's your favorite food?"

She goes still with her fork halfway to her mouth. "What are you talking about?"

He grins, looking at her, not understanding why this is a difficult question. "Of all the things you eat," he says, quietly trying to figure out how to be clear about this, "which one do you like the most? Or look forward to?"

She stays still for a moment, staring at him as she considers the question, before she shrugs. "It all pretty much tastes the same."

and his aunt Ella's rather indulgent tendency to

like, shadow carrots," Midnight says with a shrug, continuing to eat with gusto. "So, there's no favorites. It's just

at the thought of a nice juicy steak. Or, god, all of the bacon they have at the Academy for breakfast -

wolf nips him. Eat

for you to say, Jesse grumbles to his wolf. Considering

as he's told, continuing to clear

Midnight says, rolling her eyes elaborately at him, like it's the stupidest thing

if everything is carrots and cabbage, how

at the Fancy House," Midnight murmurs, eating her last forkful of cabbage and the scraping the plate with the fork, trying to get all the

says, sitting up a bit. "What's

goes still and doesn't look at him. "I don't

smiles, shaking his head.

You imagined it. The wind came in and whispered lies in your

a