Novel Jumper

Chapter Four

 Someone - either Connor or Azca - had covered Theresa's body with a bedsheet. While the sheet had undoubtedly been at least somewhat clean beforehand, it now had stains of dirt and blood from the corpse underneath.

Silently promising herself that she would not throw up, Lilia walked forward, kneeled, and gingerly grabbed a corner of the sheet near the head-shaped raise. Carefully, she folded it back.

Theresa's familiar jet black hair was a mess. Her iconic green eyes were closed and her beautiful, strongly set face was slack. There were many little cuts and bruises marring her skin besides the decade-old scars that Star of Winter had identified along her cheekbone and on the bridge of her nose.

Lilia couldn't breathe. This was the first time she had seen her favorite book character, probably the only time she would ever get to see her, and she was a dead body under a sheet.

It was all Lilia's fault.

She couldn't imagine how anyone could willingly murder someone else. Being responsible for someone's death accidentally and second hand was guilt-ridden enough.

Connor reached past her and pulled the other side of the sheet farther down. She followed his lead with her corner until the sheet lay in a white, brown, and red pile on the floor at Theresa's cold feet.

"Can you wash her face and hair?" Connor asked Lilia after the appropriate amount of silence had passed.

"Of course. I can braid her hair, if you would like."

"That's fine. I...she looks nice with her hair down."

Lilia swallowed down her tears. She tried not to face the thought that she had been ignoring ever since she had transported here and realized all of it was true, but it was impossible to ignore.

Theresa had been slowly but surely falling in love with Connor over the course of Star of Winter. Connor himself had, much later in the story, also started down the disastrous path.

Lilia had always wanted them to be a couple, wanted it more than her own success in certain fields - such was the existence of a fangirl. And now, thanks to her, that was impossible.

Azca brought her a bowl of water and a washcloth. She accepted the proffered items wordlessly and set to work cleaning off Theresa's immobile face.

She winced slightly whenever she wiped the blood or dirt away from a particularly nasty cut, half expecting Theresa to flinch away from the stinging pain of the water in her wound...but no. Theresa could no longer suffer. It was those she had left behind who felt the pain for her.

Finally, Theresa's face was clean. On a sudden, wild, urgent impulse, Lilia raised her hand to the eyelids. Furtively, she glanced to her right. Connor was outside digging the grave and Azca was using magic to change Theresa's ruined war clothing to a stunning white dress that she never would have stood for if she was breathing. He was so focused on the task that he wasn't paying any sort of attention to what Lilia was doing.

Quickly, Lilia slid Theresa's eyelids up. She sucked in a breath as her gaze met that of the blank, glassy, green eyes, and quickly closed them once more.

It was too late. The sight of those haunting eyes was burned into Lilia's mind.

She started cleaning Theresa's hair with shaking hands. Carefully, she used her fingers to comb through the knots and the water to clean out the dirt and blood. Soon, the thick black hair was drenched and limp.

"Do you have a towel?" Lilia asked Azca, holding up her dripping hands uselessly. Azca reached into his cloak and pulled out a couple of handkerchiefs. Lilia used them both to dry off Theresa's hair until both were soaking wet. She tossed them aside. "Her hair's still wet," she muttered, unreasonably annoyed. "We can't bury her with a wet head."