The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 419

“Never bet against me, Sinclair,” Jackson says with a sigh, flashing my brother a beautiful grin.

“Yeah well, next year,” Rafe grumbles, narrowing his eyes. I laugh, pleased to see my brother have to deal with losing – it’s not something that happens often to him. “You’re on my team. Jesse, you’re out.”

Jesse squawks with injured pride, taking a step back and pressing a hand to his chest. “This is war, cousin,” he says, quite seriously, before flashing his eyes to Jackson. “Jacks you’re on my team next year – we’re best friends, after all –“

A great deal of laughter goes around, the debate continuing as we all troop back downstairs and cobble together what we can for dinner. This is always my favorite part of Midwinter, if I’m being honest – the fact that every year mom freaks out about not having enough food prepared even though, of course, the chefs leave us more than enough and we’ve never gone hungry.

And so she has the boys continually going down to the kitchen for tray after tray of food, and cheese, and cookies, and cakes, and ice cream – so much that by the end of the evening we’re all completely stuffed with little tiny portions of snacks and food, and there’s a huge stack of plates in the corner, and everyone’s lazy and full and ready to digest.

But of course, Roger lets no one rest. Instead, he and Jesse rouse everyone to laughter as the hours pass, organizing games and pouring drinks and keeping the mood light and fun. By the end, we’re all a little drunk – or more than a little – and that’s when the music comes out. Mom moans and begs Juniper to play the piano, and Juniper pretends to resist until mom’s practically on her knees, and then Junie sighs, and stands, and flumps down on the seat of the piano hidden away in the corner and begins to play an incredibly complex concerto.

Jackson’s eyes go wide with shock the moment he hears her start to play. He watches Juniper’s hands fly over the keys and I grin, turning my face to watch him instead of Juniper.

Jackson stares around at everyone in a little bit of shock, but I wind my arm around his waist and pull him close, and he just laughs and gives into it, shaking his head and attempting to join in when he can. With the way his voice croaks as he tries to find the notes, I actually wonder if Jackson’s ever tried singing before.

But no one says anything, or makes note of his slightly off-key mostly wordless contributions to the songs. Because he’s family now, and he’s here, and whatever he adds is the perfect addition to our little chorus.

And even though the future weighs hard on each of us, we take a moment to set our fears and our worries aside. And so we sing, and laugh, and drink – all of us, together, for the rest of the night, appreciating this perfect moment for precisely what it is.