Midnight Dawn: Guiding Light

Chapter 24

The more steps Jasper took away from Griffin and Celeste's house, the heavier his heart became. The pain in his chest was faint as they were preparing to leave, but now it was to the point where it was almost hard to bear. The longer Jasper walked, hand in hand with Ayri, the worse it got.

Leaving Griffin and Celeste's this time was a completely different experience for Ayri than it had been eleven years ago. The fact that Griffin would meet them in Lumen was a comfort to Ayri; like a piece of his old home would be in his new home.

Ayri and Jasper walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Ayri glanced over and noticed silent tears streaming down Jasper's cheeks.

"Hey," Ayri cooed, pulling Jasper off of the path so as not to get in the way of other travelers. He gently cupped Jasper's cheeks and swiped his thumb softly over falling tears. "It's your chest isn't it? Take a breath, Jasper."

Ayri's warm smile and soothing touch grounded Jasper, who hadn't realized he had begun to cry. Jasper blinked a few times, a small tinge of guilt in his stomach at the sadness he had begun to feel and how quickly his chest pain had already delayed their travels.

"I should be happy," Jasper sniffled. "I am happy. But I..." Jasper sighed and looked down at the path, watching his tears drop down into the dirt. Ayri gently nudged Jasper's chin upward until their eyes met once again.

"You don't have to explain," Ayri said, leaning his forehead against Jasper's.

"I want to," Jasper replied in a small voice. "I'm so happy. With you, and that you're coming back to Lumen with me. But leaving Celeste and Griffin and the kids—I feel like a part of me is breaking off."

Ayri hummed and lifted his head to look at Jasper directly.

"You'll see them again. Who knows, maybe Griffin will like Lumen so much that he'll move his family out there."

Jasper couldn't help but giggle at Ayri's optimism. The way his eyes lit up was like he believed the very words he spoke, even though Jasper had a feeling it was a far fetched idea.

"You're just saying that to cheer me up."

"Of course I am," Ayri giggled as he moved his hands from Jasper's cheeks to his shoulders.

"You do a good job." Jasper smiled slightly just as Ayri leaned in to press a sweet kiss to his lips. "Now tell me about your chest?" Ayri said as he pulled away from the short kiss. Jasper gave a small shrug.

"It started out pretty mild and now it's really hurting."

"Hmm," Ayri looked down the path and nodded. "The town is pretty close. Look, you can see it from here. Let's just try to get there and I'll book some sort of transportation to Belanotte. That's our next stop."

"I don't mind walking, Ayri," Jasper insisted as he threaded his hand with Ayri's once again. But Ayri shook his head.

"You've done enough walking. And if you look at the map I assume you still have, you'll see that Belanotte is kind of far from us."

Jasper admired Ayri's knowledge of Alger-Kain, even if it was due to terrible circumstances. And he also knew there was no arguing with Ayri on this decision.

"Still..." Jasper went to argue, but Ayri shook his head once more.

"But Belanotte isn't as far by horse. It's a win win. We get there quicker, and you get to rest in a lovely carriage ride." Ayri flashed a grin, showing off his sharp incisors purposely. Jasper bumped Ayri's side with his hip as they walked.

"You can get me to do anything and I think you know that. It's way too much power to wield."

Ayri smirked and walked as close to Jasper's side as possible as they started again on the main road.