Ever So Lightly- Book 1

30

 Jasper woke with a start. Light was shining in through the cave entrance and their fire had burned itself down to just a few remaining embers. The ground outside was covered in several inches of glistening snow. All of these revelations paled in comparison to the fact that he had slept all night with a silver-haired princess in his arms. Jasper had absolutely no desire to wake the girl, who had shifted at some point and had an arm resting across his waist. Her legs were pressed flush against his own. Best not to look at her legs, he decided. No, he didn't want to wake her, but blast it, he really needed to take a piss.

"Zephyr," he whispered, almost hoping it wouldn't wake her. He reached to brush some of the silver strands away from where they'd fallen over her face. Even that small movement made his head throb and he winced. The movement of his body caused Zephyr to finally stir. She blinked several times, her head lifting from where it had rested against his chest. Taking in her surroundings, she finally seemed to remember where they were. She looked from her uncovered legs to his uncovered chest. Her entire body went rigid. Jasper slid his arm off of her shoulder and stood, stretching out his aching muscles. Stars, everything was sore.

Skittering across the cave like a scared rabbit, Zephyr rushed to put on her now dry pants. As she hopped on one foot to pull the other leg on, she winced, letting out a yelp as her free hand flew to her side. Jasper cursed under his breath at how he'd not even thought to ask if she'd been hurt the day before.

"Are you okay?"

Zephyr lifted her tunic to reveal a nasty purple and blue bruise the size of his hand spreading across her right side. Gingerly, she prodded the area around it.

"I think it's fine, just hurts something terrible if I move wrong." Jasper hoped with everything he had that she didn't suffer any internal bleeding. A growling sound echoed through the small cave. Jasper looked around quickly before noticing Zephyr's pink cheeks and look of utter mortification. He let out a small laugh.

"I'm hungry too, don't worry. I took the time to set one small snare last night before I came back, but I didn't have much to work with so I don't know how successful it was. I'll go check it now and get some more wood while you finished getting dressed." As he slipped his undershirt back on, Jasper didn't fail to notice Zephyr's eyes on him. He felt his own cheek heat and quickly pulled on his jacket and cloak before heading out to check the trap, after relieving his bladder a safe distance away from the cave.

The chill of the air brought a small amount of relief to his pounding head. Jasper breathed deeply, trying to expel thoughts of pale legs and green eyes focused on his top half from his head. He needed to focus. The last time these sorts of thoughts had gotten the better of him, things hadn't turned out so well. And now look where they were.

~

A short time later, Jasper re entered the cave, balancing another small pile of wood and a squirrel. He stopped short when he saw Zephyr sitting at the back wall of the cave, her retracted staff in her hands. She was staring at it but her eyes were unseeing. At her feet it looked as though she had scraped the shape of an eight-pointed star on the floor of the cave. Jasper lowered the load in his arms to the ground and slowly made his way toward her. Back to the wall, he slid down to sit next to her. She said nothing for several minutes, and Jasper didn't have a clue what to say to her.

"You knew, didn't you." It wasn't a question. Jasper had thought he had already abused her trust beyond the point of fixing it, but that was nothing compared to this moment. He took in a deep breath, then one more for good measure.

"Yes."

Zephyr squeezed her eyes closed and Jasper felt a cold fist seize his heart.

"Did everyone know?" There was no mistaking the question laced with hurt this time.

"I think so. Saria may not have, but Frederick knows. Bennet guessed." Jasper paused. "Nakomi knew." Tears slipped down Zephyr's cheeks.

"Saria doesn't know. She would have told me." Jasper felt so much guilt. He should have told her the minute he had any suspicions. He reached out a hand, grazing her arms before she flew up from the ground. Anger contorted her features, her eyes blazing as they finally met his own.

"I had a right to know! None of you should have kept this from me! What were you trying to do? How do it protect me to hide the fact that I'm a dead princess?" Her words were full of hurt and pain. Of course she should be hurt by this. The full impact of her words his Jasper, realization washing over him like a pile of rocks. Zephyr had lost so much just since they'd met, only to suddenly find out she'd lost more than she had ever known long ago. Her parents weren't nameless anymore. Her brother. Her own life and future. All of it snatched away seventeen years ago. How could he have ever protected her from that?

Wind started rushing through the cave. The sticks Jasper had gathered flew about, crashing and breaking against the walls. Zephyr stood in the midst of the chaos, her steel-colored hair whipping out around her face, her eyes scorchingly bright and so full of rage. And Jasper understood why, so he took a step toward her.

Zephyr faltered, the winds abating ever so slightly as he approached her. Tears continued to slide down her pale cheeks.

"You aren't scared of me," she whispered. Jasper stopped short.

"Of course not."

Zephyr crumpled, and Jasper closed the distance between them, pulling her tight against his chest, his cloak whipping around the both of them.

"Kade was scared," she said, her voice choking on her tears. "That's why he pushed me." Jasper held her for a long while, the winds slowly dying off as she cried in his arms.

"I'm so sorry. I wish I had told you. I wish anyone besides Kade had told you."

Zephyr cried for a long time after that, and Jasper figured she had seventeen years worth of tears to make up for so he let her. They eventually sank back to the floor, and he kept his arms tightly around her as long as she needed them. Slowly, her crying turned to sniffling. As her breathing finally evened out she looked up at him, her eyes painfully puffy and shining with sadness.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, her voice thick but even. Jasper had been thinking about this exact question as he held on to her.

"Frederick told me how to find the rebel base. I don't think it would be the best idea to try to find the others, we'd not only have to find a way up the cliff, but we'd also have to try and track them. If they decided to give up looking for us and have already left, we won't catch up without horses." Jasper paused for input but Zephyr only nodded for him to continue.

"I say we follow the Faron. Frederick says it leads to the mountains and that's where we were heading. It'll put us there a little behind them, but it'll keep us heading in the right direction."

Zephyr nodded once more before extricating herself from his arms and rising. Jasper stood alongside her, and she gave him her best attempt at that small smile.

"Can you show me how to light a fire?" she asked sheepishly, turning away to collect the branches and sticks now strewn about the cave. "I better learn how to take care of myself in case you hit your head again." Jasper marveled at her ability to recover. The Zephyr he'd found weeks ago would have been out for days, shriveled and hidden within herself, broken almost beyond repair. This Zephyr was making a joke already.

"Sure, it's not that hard," he said with a chuckle, leaning down to help her gather the wood. They worked in silence for a while, then only speaking when he was showing her what to do or when she had a question. Within minutes they had a small blaze going, the squirrel cooking over the flame.

They ate quietly, once again seated next to one another.

"I'm not angry with you." Her voice was small but steady. Jasper waiting for her to go on.

"I'm hurt, yes, but I don't even blame you for that. Everybody makes mistakes." Jasper wondered if she only referred to one mistake or both of them. She reached out and took his hand in her own. "It's hard to stay mad at someone who cares so much." She offered him a real smile this time, the kind that lit up her eyes.

Blast it, she gave him new reasons every day to, as Bennet would say, remain smitten.