What Blooms At Midnight

Nine

"Jasper Jones is Prince Edmund's Beloved." The words that I find myself waking to surprise me almost more than the ache I feel in the left half of my body, blurry vision the only indication that maybe the nap I find myself waking from resulted in a fall, something that I am all too familiar with, though the absence of pain in my body makes me doubt that the fall actually happened. I should be sore and covered in bruises, but instead, all I feel is safety cradled so closely to whoever had collected me from my fall... It feels so peaceful here... The medicine had made things feel peaceful here. I hadn't been able to keep myself upright after swallowing the tea that had brought me such great relief.  The way it had washed over me had left me unable to keep my eyes open or even to stay standing... I don't think I've ever felt so pleasant and so soothed, especially not so soon after an episode...The pain that had been radiating from under my collar bone and up my legs from my ankles wanting to swell all but a bothersome memory that feels like it can be forgotten if I just let myself to sink back into the blissful sleep that had consumed me. 

Truly my family's decision to move to the village surrounding the castle in hopes of getting me treated with real medicine clearly a stroke of true brilliance with the relief that has been gifted to me... The easing of my pain almost makes me want to let my eyes flutter shut and curl into the chest that radiates the same smell as a certain Royal that I know I shouldn't be allowing myself to take comfort in... I'm too afraid to try and look, instead choosing to close my blurry eyes and nuzzle deeper into his chest, a hand coming up to stroke my hair tenderly enough to draw a whimper from the back of my throat. 

...

Edmund

...

"Jasper? Have you woken?" My voice is kept quiet while I croon down to the delicate creature in my arms, his settling into me most endearing, the adorable sound leaving him as he lets himself melt into my hold enough to make my old heart cease in its beating, my attention ensnared by this lovely mortal.

Instead of a verbal answer, I'm given a timid nod that results in me wrapping my arms around him just a little bit tighter while his still weak fists reach up and latch on to my shirt, his grip more for steadying his emotional state than out of a physical need as he joins our conversation half-heartedly, my mind immediately turning to the words that had just left Alistair's mouth.

"How much did you hear of our discussion, Dearest?" My family members look on in fascination as the two of us draw unconscious comfort from each other, his actions languid and clumsy as the full effects of the tea settle into him. 

It is not as though I wouldn't eventually have to explain our connection to him anyway, but having to do it now seems too soon, his emotional health a concern while he's clearly in such a vulnerable state, the effects of my blood causing a drowsy clinginess that I am more than content to bask in as he repeatedly nuzzles himself closer to me. 

We have to wait a moment for his answer, but eventually, he's able to collect his words and urge them to roll off of his lips into the crook of my neck, "I.. I heard... But I.. I don't know what it means..."

The appearance of my Mother's hand as it invades our personal space in order to brush my Beloved's hair away from his face as she leans over the edge of the bed to get a closer look at him... Her approach had been completely unacknowledged by my ears, my attentions solely focused on the Cherub currently resting in my arms, "Do not worry on that young one... Clearly you haven't been having a very good time during your visit... Can you please tell me if my son was the cause of your current state?"

"T-That's what I was trying to explain to you, Your Majesty." Alistair finally regains enough nerve to speak back up and draw my Mother's gaze away from my Beloved just as I'm ready to push her hands away from us both so she cannot bother him with her interrogations, "It seems as though Jasper suffered an arrhythmic cardiac event after losing control of his horse. Prince Edmund brought him here for medical attention only- Not a feeding."

...

Jasper

...

The words being spoken make less and less sense to me and I begin to wonder if I've truly woken up or if this is just a strange medicine induced dream that I'll forget come the morning to be replaced with a new lease on life if I am able to procure more of the drought they had given me before getting collected by my parents in the morning... And if it is a dream there should be no reason to deny myself the cool comfort of the body beneath mine confirmed to be none other than Prince Edmund himself... An odd choice for my mind to settle on, even if he does smell just as good now as he had when he had held me out in the orchard.

"Oh dear... Is he alright?" The woman's voice is almost as soothing as the smell wafting its way into my nostrils as I try and relax enough to let my mind drift now that the focus has moved away from me having to answer questions I do not have the energy to. 

"He's just taken a dose of..." The conversation continues on, a gasp sounding somewhere in the room as I finally succeed in letting the strange dream my mind had presented me with fade back into the darkness it had sprung from, a more restful dreamless sleep taking its place, the only thing not fading away the scent that fills my heart with a lightness that I do not understand and the feel of strong arms securing me and keeping me safe.