The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 968

I wait for a second, grimacing a bit, watching Jackson’s face for a reaction. But he just stares at me, completely blank.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, shaking my head, reaching for him. “I’m sorry, Jacks – I didn’t mean anything bad by it –“

“No, Ariel…” he replies, blinking out of his frozen state and clearing his throat. “I just – I just don’t understand –“

I frown at him, not getting what he doesn’t get.

He narrows his eyes and leans closer to me. “How…how would you become her mother?”

“Well,” I say, twisting my fingers together, feeling tense. “I would…adopt her. Legally, she would be mine as well as yours – I’d have all the rights as her mother and she as my daughter. And there’s a ceremony that you can perform at the Temple before the Goddess’s sacred pool – people do it all the time when they adopt kids. You ask the Goddess to bless the union so that the child is spiritually yours, as well as legally.”

Jackson continues to just stare at me, though I can see his mind at work now, putting it all together.

I do my best to give him a moment to think, but eventually I can’t bear the silence anymore, guilt and worry rushing through me. “And I’d never want to replace Tasha –“ I say softly, all in a rush. “We wouldn’t like – erase her memory, or pretend that she’s not real, or keep anything a secret from Marigold – we can find ways to honor Tasha and find ways to help Marigold remember her first mom.”

Jackson sighs, his head dropping like he hadn’t even considered that point.

“But if…if Marigold has someone in her life who desperately wants to be her mother,” I whisper, lifting a hand to cup Jackson’s cheek, hope and love surging through my chest. “Then a mother is a wonderful thing to have. And I really…really want to be her mom, Jacks.”

Jackson raises his eyes to mine and as soon as I see the wetness of his lower lashes tears spring to my eyes as well.

“Ariel,” Jackson says, shaking his head, disbelieving that such a thing can be true. “It’s – it’s so much to ask of you –“

“But you didn’t ask,” I reply, shaking my head, smiling at him even as tears streak down my cheek. “I asked. And if you say no I’ll understand. But…I really hope you say yes. I want to do this – I want to be a family. I want…Marigold to be mine as well as yours, a full sister to all of her future siblings.”