A Gamblers Luck | Jesper Fahey

A world without waffles

It's not fair.

Those were the words spoken by a naive child many years ago. A child who knew nothing of the hardships of the world. A child who thought being grisha was more of a blessing than a curse. Walking away leaving her first ever blade behind in some grishas burnt flesh tore something from Eliana's already decaying heart. 

That could have been me. 

It should have been me. 

Seeing those burnt bodies brought a wave of unwelcome memories. Memories that had been casted away like spoiled food or a miss matched sock. Memories that had been shoved so deep inside her rotten heart, she sometimes forgot they existed. She thought of her mother, her eyes the color of melted gold, and hair the color of deepest midnight. She thought of her father, his eyes the color of the true sea. You have Papa's eyes, its a good thing you got Mama's charm. Her little brother had always been envious of her easy way with strangers. Eliana felt Jesper trace the thin scar on her knuckle as he grabbed her hand again. Her brother had been shy. One day he came home from school crying, saying people at school were being mean to him. Between fits of tears he had said he didn't want to go to back. So that next morning, Eliana had "accidently" broken a pot, taking a sharp shard in her small fingers, she had split her knuckle. She showed it to her mother, she claimed she couldn't go to the school house and that Kiyo her brother was far too young to go alone. He had thanked her profusely after that. She was brought back to reality by the realization that Jesper was in fact holding her hand. They were a little ahead of the group, probably due to the fact he walked so fast. She turned her head towards him, the sun was lighting up his face giving the illusion that he was glowing. His free hand was resting on one of his revolvers. He turned his head and met her gaze. Raising his hand, he brushed the snow from her hair. 

"I can't believe I was so excited to see land. Now I would give anything to get off it," said Jesper, looking back towards the horizon. 

"Yeah I was practically ready to jump off the ship." 

"If memory serves me right, you threatened to throw me off," mused the sharpshooter. 

"Because, you were being insufferable," laughed Eliana. Jesper, turned his head back towards her, looking positively affronted. Suddenly, something white hit her square in the chest. She realized he had not in fact had his hand on his revolvers, he had it curled around a snowball. "I'm going to murder you Fahey." 

"For the best assassin in Ketterdam you have some lousy reflexes." 

She picked up a snowball and threw it. Jesper turned his body sideways, narrowly missing the attack. Or so he thought. The first snowball had been a distraction. While he was busy avoiding the snowball she threw another one. It hit him dead center in the face. He slowly blinked the snow out of his eyes. 

"Now who has the lousy reflexes." 

With a wink he said, "How about I show you just how lousy they are." He tackled her, pushing her into the ground. She landed with a soft thud, the snow cushioning her landing. Jesper had her pinned against the ground, his elbows on either side of her face, his knees resting between her legs. He looked into her blue eyes, the eyes of a storm, bright and beautiful. Eliana wondered if he could hear her heartbeat. He leaned towards her, his lips softly grazing the side of her cheek. he pulled back and back looked at her. Her cheeks flushed under his attention and after a few moments she said, "Well are you gonna kiss me?" 

He chuckled softly. "Always straight to the point aren't you?" He tucked a stray curl behind her ear and leaned down to whisper, "Aren't you?" 

"Yes." she strangled out, barely recognizing her own voice. Finally, he leaned back down and kissed her. It was better than the first time. All the longing glances and little gestures would never compare to this. She didn't deserve him. Just minutes ago she had been thinking of her family, but his touch had brought her out of those memories. He was her tether to reality, her light at the end of a tunnel, but above all, he was hers. They would survive the Ice Court and whatever would come next. Because if they didn't, if he didn't, she find a way back to him. She didn't want to think of what would happen if he died. A world without Jesper Fahey was like a world without waffles. It just wouldn't work.