The Princess and the Patch

Tests

Hope's POV:

The room began to breathe again.

Conversations resumed.

Wine was poured.

Plates shifted.

Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that my mother's attention remained fixed on me.

Waiting.

Measuring.

Calculating.

Then Destiny lifted her glass.

"Since we're discussing succession..."

Every conversation died instantly.

Wonderful.

I resisted the urge to sink into my chair.

My mother looked directly at me.

"Tell me, Hope."

There was that tone again.

The one she used when she already knew the answer and wanted to see if I did too.

"What comes first?"

I frowned.

"What?"

"The Family."

Her gaze never wavered.

"Or Jaxxon."

The room became deathly silent.

My stomach dropped.

Beside me, Jaxx went perfectly still.

Nobody moved.

Nobody looked away.

This wasn't dinner anymore.

This was a public execution.

I swallowed.

"Mother..."

"No."

Her voice was calm.

Far too calm.

"Answer the question."

Heat crept up my neck.

I hated this.

I hated that she was doing it here.

I hated that everyone was watching.

Most of all, I hated that I knew exactly why she was asking.

Joe.

My father.

The ghost that still haunted every decision she made.

The man she had loved enough to follow into hell.

The man who had disappeared.

The man whose return had changed everything.

The man that worshiped me and protected her until the day he died.

My mother didn't trust love.

Not completely.

Not after what it had cost her.

"That's not a fair question."

"No," Destiny agreed.

"It isn't."

The honesty caught me off guard.

Her expression softened slightly.

Only slightly.

"Neither is leadership."

I stared at her.

She continued.

"One day, people will ask you to choose between what you want and what is necessary."

The room remained silent.

"One day someone you love may become a liability."

Her eyes flickered briefly toward Jaxx.

Then back to me.

"What do you do then?"

The implication hung heavily in the air.

I felt Jaxx tense beside me.

For a moment I wondered if he would stay silent.

Then he laughed.

A single sharp sound.

The entire table turned toward him.

Jaxx leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his drink.

"You know," he said casually, "most future mothers-in-law ask when we're having children."

I nearly choked.

Several people at the table looked horrified.

One or two were actively trying not to laugh.

My mother's expression didn't change.

"Is there something amusing about this, Mr. McCoy?"

"No."

Jaxx set his glass down.

"But there is something predictable about it."

The room somehow became even quieter.

I wanted to kick him under the table.

Instead I sat frozen.

Destiny regarded him carefully.

"Explain."

Jaxx smiled.

The confident, dangerous smile he wore when he knew exactly what he was doing.

"You're asking the wrong question."

A few heads turned.

Even my mother looked intrigued.

"And what question should I be asking?"

Jaxx folded his hands.

"If Hope has to choose between me and the Family, then one of us has already failed."

Nobody spoke.

He continued.

"Hope isn't some lovestruck kid running away from responsibility."

His hand found mine beneath the table.

"She's spent her entire life preparing for this. Between you and my Grandfather, she spent more time being trained than being a kid."

My chest tightened.

"She understands the Family better than most people in this room."

A few captains shifted uncomfortably.

Jaxx didn't seem to notice.

Or care.

"The real question isn't whether Hope would choose the Family."

His blue eyes locked onto Destiny's.

"It's whether the Family deserves her."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

I could practically hear hearts stopping around the table.

Nobody talked to Destiny Fairbanks like that.

Nobody.

Yet Jaxx sat there completely relaxed.

My mother studied him.

For several long moments.

Then she surprised everyone.

She smiled.

A genuine smile.

Small.

Rare.

Dangerous.

"You sound like your grandfather."

Jaxx groaned immediately.

"Oh, come on."

The smile widened.

"He used to say things like that."

"Yeah, and look how much trouble that caused."

A few quiet laughs spread through the room.

The tension eased.

Slightly.

But Destiny wasn't finished.

Her eyes moved back to me.

"He's wrong, you know."

Of course he was.

According to her.

I sighed.

"About which part?"

"The Family doesn't deserve anyone."

The warmth disappeared from her expression.

"That's why loyalty matters."

There it was.

The lesson.

The thing she'd been building toward all evening.

"The Family is not a reward."

Her voice was quiet enough that everyone leaned forward to hear it.

"It is not fair."

She glanced around the room.

"It will take more than it gives."

Then her gaze settled on me.

"And if you lead it long enough, it will ask for pieces of yourself you never intended to surrender."

For the first time all night, I saw something behind her eyes.

Not power.

Not control.

Regret.

Gone almost instantly.

But there.

A glimpse of the girl she had once been.

The one before Axel.

Before the empire.

Before becoming what she is now.

"Just make sure," she said softly, "that whatever you choose... you can live with it."

For a moment neither of us spoke.

Then she stood.

The discussion was over.

The room rose with her.

And as she walked away, Jaxx leaned toward me.

"Well."

I exhaled slowly.

"What?"

"I think your mother likes me."

I stared at him.

"Jaxx."

"Yeah?"

"You just challenged the head of a criminal empire at dinner."

He shrugged.

"And? To be fair isn't she also sort of my Aunt because my Grandpa sort of adopted her? And she's my future mother in law?" He grins. "Baby, our family tree is nearly a wreath."

I couldn't help it.

I laughed.

And somewhere across the room, I caught my mother's eye.

For the briefest moment, she looked almost amused.