What Blooms At Midnight

Twelve

Jasper's words stun me with how beautiful they are... How wonderful it is to know that he feels safe with me despite having spent our first hours together both in pain and unconscious for the most part... And being gifted the knowledge that he too feels the draw happening between us as we hold each other only to deliver the fondest of touches to each other, mine with my caresses to his tenderly flushed cheek and his affection coming in the form of the most adorable settlement of himself deeper into my hold, the hand held over my heart balling itself up in my shirt as his face nuzzles into my shoulder while waiting for my answer... 

I hope I always find his touch this precious to me... His very soul so breathtaking and pure that I almost cannot stand myself with how long it takes me to actually respond to him with, "Yes, my Sweet... It is..."

...

Jasper

...

The way Prince Edmund stares at me is so full of longing that I cannot find it in me to doubt his words... The confirmation exactly what I need to give in to my craving of him and truly collapse into him and take all of the comforts he is so freely offering me as he holds me so carefully in his lap, "S-So if my parents agree... I'll move here? To be your fiance? I...We only met just yesterday, Your Highness..." 

My voice sounds weak in the way that it waivers, but as I start to truly comprehend our situation the room starts to spin as I make the mental connections of his words and what they actually mean... He wants to move me to the castle to become his fiance... And we would be sharing rooms and intimate time with each other unsupervised as we apparently are now...

"Normally it would not all happen so fast, but I am afraid that with your heart in the condition that it is in it would not be safe for us to prolong it. Truly you'd be here mainly so that Alistair and I might oversee your healing, becoming my official Companion would only make it easier for us to do so because you'd be with me always..." His answer is so earnest that I am ready to kick myself when I can only think to respond with something I am not sure that I should, but feel the need to bring to light anyway...

"So you can feed me more tea mixed with your blood?"

Prince Edmund's startled expression is quick to soften when he sees me flinch in response to it, his answer to my question a gentle nod, and, "I can explain that if you'll let me... I hadn't been aware that was part of what you had heard.."

...

Edmund

...

When Jasper does not respond I can only assume that he's waiting for me to continue, so I proceed as honestly as I can without scaring him, "Vampiric blood can be used as a tonic for those who are ailing and ill... It can heal even the most fatal of blows if delivered in the right dosage by someone who knows how to administer it correctly for the type of injury or ailment. Normally we hesitate to share this secret so it is something I need you not to repeat, for our blood should never be given freely or without thought, lest we give to much and accidentally foster a false bond with someone who is not our soulmate..."

"B-But because I am your s-soulmate... it is okay for you to feed it to me?" It does not take long for my sweet Jasper to show his understanding of the subject, even with the precarious way that I've managed to explain things. 

"Precisely... Though I hope I have not offended you by not informing you of the tea's contents before letting you consume it." Not that I had been the one who had wanted to keep the knowledge of it from him in the first place... I had wanted to hold off on it just a little longer... just long enough for us to explain the choice to him before we made it for him.

"Your Highness... If I am allowed to be honest... You could have fed me dirt last night if you had told me it would ease the pain in my chest... I should be thanking you for the self-sacrifice that you're making for my health." The words are so softly spoken and genuine that it sets my gentle heart aflutter in my chest, a pounding I am sure even he can feel as he presses his hand over it. 

...

Jasper

...

"I-I should tell you, Jasper... That drinking my blood will have certain effects on your being over time if you decide you would like to continue to take it... That feeling of safety and the pull you feel towards me will intensify over time as the dosages increase while we strengthen your heart." He could tell me that it would make me sprout great wings from my back and turn me greener than the grass that grows in the royal orchard and I would still choose to take whatever he might offer me if it might continue the relief that I currently feel... And if it means that I might find myself in these strong arms of his again, hopefully soon. 

"I would not object to that... If we are soulmates... And I am to be your Companion... I suppose that feeling safer and drawn to you would not be objectable to me, Your Highness... Should I not want to feel this close to you always?" I cannot believe the words that pour from my mouth sweeter than honeyed wine, but somehow the elixir that he has slipped me also has another effect that maybe he had not been aware of... I feel the need to keep no secrets from him... It just feels as though there is not a need.

"Oh my... Yes, my Love... Yes, you should... And I do so hope that whenever you do want to be held this way you come to me as soon as the mood strikes... Jasper, please understand that though you may not yet feel the same you have my whole heart at your disposal." I do not fancy myself a romantic but the Prince's words cause heat to pool in the bottom of my belly, my very spirit soaring with how cherished I feel as he snuggles me as close as either of us can bear... 

The penny novels secreted to me by my siblings every now and then more to relieve the tedium of having to constantly stay bed-bound for the sake of keeping unneeded stress from straining my already taxed system than a habit I would have picked up only own if I were ever allowed to actually do anything for myself... But I've read more than one penned plot of vampires and their sordid history of taking lovers and having romantic trysts to know that when they call upon someone as their soulmate in so many words that they tend to mean it... And if it means that I might truly get healthier under his care and not be shamed for wanted so very badly to be nestled in his embrace just as I am now I am more than happy to become Prince Edmund's companion, especially if it means I get to inhale his intoxicating scent directly from the source instead of having to daydream about it once returned to home and my bleak most-likely short-lived existence... The only two people that would need convincing on this matter would be my parents, and I am sure that when they see me feeling so much better so soon after an episode neither of them will have it in them to fight us on the issue of transferring me into Prince Edmund's care when having me be tended to by the castle physicians in order to save my life is exactly what uprooted us and brought us here in the first place.