He does, finally lifting his head. I pluck his chin higher into the air, a position of pride he should always feel worthy of carrying. He sighs against my mouth as I kiss him, as I make my feelings perfectly clear. His eyes shine darkly when we part.
“Would you read me another?” I ask.
With his lips in a small smile, he nods, clearing his throat before picking up a new page.
“My warrior…”
Jasper reads letter after letter, each signed inconspicuously with the letter J, until the oil lamp goes out and he’s forced to stop. Even then, we stay wrapped up in one another for a long while.
It’s easy to believe—when the rest of the world is out of sight—that we could exist just like this. Without worry. Without repercussion.
Without end.
The days and weeks pass quickly. With Jasper home, my time feels less monotonous than it once did. Interspersed with my days at the stables are glimpses of Jasper and his smile on the way to the printer. And at night, whenever he’s able, Jasper comes to the creek. We touch. Kiss. Lie together under the stars.
Until it’s once again time to part.
One Sunday while we’re basking with our toes in the creek, Jasper says, “Why do they say it’s wrong? The two of us.”
The sun overhead feels far too bright for this conversation. “Because their god said so.”
Jasper’s retort is full of fire. “But he didn’t. His teachings were written by men. And men are fallible.”
I hum, loving the way Jasper’s mind works.
“I don’t understand how it could be wrong,” he goes on, his pale skin having tanned some in the summer months we’ve spent together. His breeches are still wet from our swim, and my gaze drifts lazily along the outline of his soft prick before I refocus on Jasper’s words and his brightly lit cheeks. “It does not feel wrong to me. It feels like the most perfect thing. Why do people fear what they cannot control?”
“I think you may have answered your question,” I say, shifting to run my fingers along his arm. “Powerful men seek to command. Even when it comes to love.”
Jasper’s head rolls my way. “It’s not right.”
He shivers when I trace my finger up the inside of his elbow. “I seem to recall you telling me you never dared to fight your foes. Yet you sound ready to take up arms, my starry-eyed boy.”
He snorts indelicately. “If I were as brave as you, maybe I would. But I don’t know how to fight something so…vast.”
“We do it in our own way,” I tell him, covering Jasper’s body with my own. He welcomes me, his arms wrapping around my neck, his smile sweet and hopeful.
“And what way is that?”
I kiss his neck, the soft spot that makes him moan for me. “I can think of many, many ways. Allow me to show you?”
His voice comes out breathless. “If you make me spend, we’ll need to take another dip in the creek.”
“Perish the thought,” I murmur, rolling against his hips.
Jasper’s eyes close, his parted lips a temptation I can’t ignore. We rut and kiss, blunt nails raking down my back as Jasper swells beneath me, his cry one I swallow down. I follow him mere seconds later, my very heart pressed to me from outside my chest.
Jasper is boneless when I drag him into the creek. His smile is languid, his eyes catching mine as he washes out his breeches. “That was careless of us. To be in the open like that.”
I don’t disagree with him, but we were quick. “Next time, I’ll carry you inside.”
“To our crumbling home?”
I laugh softly, but I like the sound of that more than he knows. A home for us, crumbling or not.
“I should be getting back shortly,” I tell him. “My mother wasn’t her best this morning, and I want to check after her.”
Jasper is quiet for a moment. “Could I… Could I meet her, do you think?”
