Tears pricked my eyes. I let them slide down my cheeks unchecked.
Either the Fates were wrong, or the rules were. Why did it matter if we were from different clans? How could being together with my mate be a crime? So many questions and zero answers.
Eventually, I fell asleep, my pillow damp with tears.
Chapter 16
The next morning,Nell burst through the door, her eyes wide. “Oh, thank the mages,” she declared, her shoulders slumping. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
I wiped the crusty remnants of tears from my eyes as I sat up, frowning.
“There was an attack last night, in the woods,” Rue said, appearing over Nell’s shoulder.
Kaja pushed aside her sisters, forcing her way into my room and shutting the door behind her. She held two paper cups in her hands, both full of French toast sticks. Crossing the room to my bed, she shoved one at me as she sat on the edge. “Everyoneis talking about it.”
She took a large bite, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she moaned. “You should eat those before I decide to take them back.”
Nell grabbed my left hand to hide my mate marks while the last remnants of a bad night’s sleep left me.
Rue chewed on her lip. “Attacks on students don’t happen on Alpha Island. Like … ever.”
Here we go. I sucked in a deep breath and then blurted, “I know, I was there.”
All three of them gasped, and Nell’s grip on my hand went slack as it fell to my lap. Still, I trusted them. More importantly, I needed someone to talk to since the school failed to offer therapy. A big oversight, in my opinion, especially with their sucky security.
Rue’s eyebrows hit her hairline, and Kaja gaped.
“You were … there?” Nell asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. With my mate, who… got injured.”
“Holy shit!” Kaja stammered, leaping to her feet, her breakfast now forgotten. “Mother of mages!” She paced the room, shaking her head. “I can’t even…”
Weird reaction.
Not that I was exactly Zen about the whole thing, but … picking up one of the sticks, I nibbled on the flaky sweetness. Oh, yummy. Around a mouthful, I asked, “What? What’s wrong?”
A sly grin pulled at Nell’s lips. “The student who was injured, the one sent away for a specialroyalhealer off-island, was one of the Midnight princes.”
The room swam, and the color must have drained from my face because Nell reached out and grasped my shoulders. “You okay?”
I gulped, nodding. This was it, the proof I’d been waiting for. I told myself my mate could be a close friend of the Midnight brothers. Hadn’t he said as much in the garden when we first kissed? That his friend told him of the place. But this … this was proof. “So, my mate is…”
Kaja shook a French toast stick at me, flinging syrup onto the floor. “Obviously Rage or Justice! Oh, my stars, what I wouldn’t give to mate with either of them.”
Something about her statement made me laugh, but the sound was hollow. Having it confirmed that either Rage or Justice was my mate … hurt. Why wouldn’t he tell me? I could think of only two reasons:
embarrassment
cowardice
Well, plus, there was that whole thing about who’s family member killed who. I’d call that resentment. So maybe three reasons. But the first two were stupid, and the third one was wrong.
My thoughts drifted to the two Midnight princes. Despite Rage’s hot/cold and sometimes ugly personality, he lit a fire inside of me. Then, there was Justice. Equally icy at times, but lately … he was definitely thawing.
All of Nell’s excitement fell from her expression, and then she shrugged. “No details were given, so no idea which one it was. I heard the alpha king freaked out.Livid.But their mom sent them to a special healer off-island for a rapid recovery.”
Huh…
