The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0866 "Highness!" the voice commands. "Please, highness! Are you all right!?"

"It's been three minutes," Jackson growls.

Gabriel groans and pushes himself up straight, looking into my eyes one last time, devastated. Silently he nods, giving me permission to go.

I smile back at him even as I reach for Jackson's hand. He pulls me shakily to my feet and sniffs my hair, starting back a step and frowning down at me. "Did you..."

"Let's go, Jacks," I say, exhausted and shaky after breaking the bond with my mate.

"Oh my god, Ariel," Jackson murmurs, frustrated. He shakes his head even as he wraps me up in his arms. My eyes are on Gabriel for one last moment as Jackson and I tilt away to the Land of Darkness, leaving the Prince - now King - alone with the corpse of his uncle to face whatever fate awaits him. A fate of his own making, after all.

The Land of Darkness is surprisingly quiet when we arrive. I look around in

surprise, searching for the soldiers I saw before. But the only thing I can see is the shadowy enclosure that still holds the God of Darkness - though it shudders once from the inside, clearly starting to weaken.

"Where...is everyone?" I whisper.

"Soldiers went away," Jackson says, heaving an easy shrug, his eyes on me. Softly he pushes back my hair, inspecting my neck. "Well? Where is it?"

I ask, turning my head to look up

one eyebrow at me, willing me

arm, which continues to ache, looking down at Gabriel's mark still raw and bloody on my

and glances at my face once before returning

him for

breath and fixes his eyes on mine. "You know what I'm

to my side as I reach my other arm up, cupping the soft skin of Jackson's neck in my palm. "I wanted the magic, Jacks wanted to collect his mark, as my grandmother told me was my birthright. But the only mark really want is yours.

and pulls me close, looking intently down into my face. "Ariel," he

love of his

all of my love down our bond in a heavy swell. "Can we

into his face, blissfully happy even though we're

trouble. "But,

eyes scanning all over me, looking for a problem.

I just rejected my mate, Jacks," I say, laughing and standing on my toes, reaching up,

up into his arms and holding me close. "Of course I'll carry you." He presses a

generous and

as

is, even if I now have a second mark that's