Sorry I've taken my sweet time updating this. But thanks for sticking with me, things are about to get good.
I still couldn't believe I had almost told Bella how I felt about her. I don't even know where it came from. I hadn't planned on it, even though I had thought about a hundred times a day. I knew I couldn't live without her, and after Peter finally sat me down, I knew I didn't want to.
He had talked about how he nearly lost Charlotte after dragging his feet, and finally manned up and told her how he felt. He admitted he was scared to death, but once he told her, and found out she felt the same, he knew he had been crazy for waiting. And he had no doubt that Bella felt the same about me. He swore Charlotte never told him anything about Bella, which I know Bella is private, but don't girls usually talk about that kind of thing?
I was still lost in thought the next day during sparring.
"Jasper! Get your head out of your ass!" Peter bellowed. I heard some giggling from a couple fields over and saw that the princess and her entourage were out walking by the river, and had caught his words, Bella included. I turned and scowled at him, seeing the glint in his eyes. He may have looked furious to the other men, but I could tell he was trying to make fun of me in front of them. So I went at him hard, and I swear it looked like he was grinning every time our swords hit, instead of just gritting his teeth at me. I was just getting the upper hand on him when an ear piercing whistle ripped our attention away.
It was Charlotte. She was facing us whistling as hard as she could to get our attention. And it was definitely not a playful whistle. We dropped our swords and raced towards where they were standing. All the women but Charlotte were lined up along the rivers edge screaming and pointing.
All except Bella.
When I got closer, Charlotte pointed down the way the river flowed. She was looking right at me, terrified.
"She fell in, she's getting swept away and can't stop."
Peter and I took off at a sprint down the river. I couldn't see her. The river was moving so fast, I wondered how far she had gotten. The I heard a scream up ahead. There she was, she had hit up against a rock and was holding on with all she had.
I didn't even think about it, I jumped in as soon as I saw her.
The water was shockingly cold and nearly took my breath away. The water whisked me toward Bella, and right past her I grabbed an overhanging branch. I was about four feet in front of her.
"Jasper! Help me!" She cried. Her eyes were filled with terror, and I noticed her lips had started turning blue.
"I'm right here Bella," I called to her. "Let go and I'll catch you." She shook her head hard side to side. "Bella, I promise, I'll catch you!" She started slipping and whimpered. "Bella, please! You have to trust me!" I yelled at her. She looked at me right in the eyes, and I wasn't sure if she didn't hear me, or was thinking about it. "Bella, it's me! Have I ever let you down?" And that was it. I saw her take a deep breath and let herself slide off the rock. She tried to keep her head up, but the water pulled her under. I reached out to where I could see her under the water, and felt her arm grab at me. I pulled with all strength to bring her up above the surface. As soon as I heard her sputtering and coughing I cried out in relief. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight as she gasped for air and coughed the water out of her lungs. I didn't realize how worried I had been until the relief hit me. I tried pulling us up from the branch, but her wet clothes were weighing us down.
"Jasper!" I heard Peter cry out above us. He was holding out his hand but he was just too far away. I pulled harder on the branch that was holding us out of the water, reaching toward his hand, and almost had it, when I heard a crack. I looked over just as the branch broke free from the tree and we fell back into the river. Bella and I held as tight as we could to each other, but the water slammed us against a rock and knocked her loose from me. I saw her head go down, and I fought to get to her. I could feel the panic start to creep over me. We were finally getting to a shallower part of the river, several hundred feet down from where we started, when I saw her head bob to the surface. I dove toward her and grabbed hold, but this time when I brought her back up, there was no coughing or sputtering. I was screaming Peter's name while I dragged her up out of the water onto dry ground. I laid her back and froze. Her lips were blue, eyes closed, and she wasn't breathing.
"What do I do?" I begged Peter. I couldn't lose her, I just knew I couldn't. Nothing would make sense without her.
"Move!" Charlotte yelled, shoving Peter out of the way and falling on her knees beside Bella. She quickly rolled Bella onto her side and starting beating on her back. "Push on her stomach!" She looked at me and demanded. We started alternating, Charlotte landing blows to her back, and me pushing her stomach as hard as I dared. I had no idea what I was doing, but Charlotte did, and that was all I needed. Until I heard the coughing and sputtering. That was all I needed. Bella started coughing and spitting up so much water, it was amazing and frightening how much she had in her. She rolled back onto the ground, gasping for breath, once she had expelled all the water she could. Charlotte sat back on her feet and let out a sigh of relief. I gently rubbed the hair out of Bella's face while her breathing slowed. She finally opened her eyes and gave me a small smile.
"Hi." She croaked out.
"Hey." I chuckled, even though I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I couldn't help it knowing how close I came to losing her. I pulled her up to me quickly and held her to me and she wrapped her arms around me just as tight. I wasn't planning on letting her go anytime soon, but just then the princess walked up.
"Bella dear, you gave us quite the scare." She was a little to calm for my liking, and I swore that it sounded as if she were trying not to laugh. Bella and I looked over at her. "How about next time I ask you to do a simple task, you keep your dramatics to a minimum? Which speaking of, did you even get my ribbon out of that bush?"
The shock I felt at her words caused my eyes to go wide, and I could feel a burning from deep down inside, a feeling I hadn't felt in many years. I felt Bella's hand on my cheek, as well as a firm pressure from Peter on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry princess." Was all she said. She then lowered her eyes as if she was ashamed of her actions. I felt a small spark of anger flare up. I know that we were to cater to the royal family, but Bella's life had been risked, and yet she was the one apologizing.
"Yes, well, luckily you are the one person that can make me a new one. Charlotte, why don't you accompany her back to the castle to change into some dryer attire, and I will just plan on seeing the two of you at dinner tonight. Preferably on time. Come along ladies." And she whisked around us to continue down the side of the river.
I heard Charlotte grumbling something under her breath as her eyes followed the princess out of earshot.
"Come on Jasper, we need to get back to the other men." Peter said as he stood up. I looked over at him with the same astonishment as if he had demanded I sprout wings and fly.
"Peter Whitlock!" Charlotte admonished. "He will do no such thing! You can go back to your men, Jasper will accompany Bella and I back to our room."
"Charlotte, I'm just trying to think of how it will look to the others." He tried explaining.
"Well Peter, I just don't think I could trust Charlotte to carry me in case my legs give out." Bella stated with a smirk. Peter blew out a sigh of resignation knowing he was outnumbered, and stalked angrily back toward the sparring field.
"Lead the way, m'lady" I said to Charlotte smiling as I picked Bella up in my arms.
"Oh Jasper, I was only joking with Peter, I can walk." Bella laughed.
"Nonsense. I wouldn't be surprised if I had to carry you around for the next two weeks." I smiled and she laughed at me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned her head against my shoulder on the way back to the castle, and shortly after I felt her breathing even out. Charlotte and I talked the whole way back, as I carried a sleeping Bella in my arms.
"So how is she?" Peter asked as we walked back toward the castle. It was late evening and we had met up after he had finished up with the sparring.
"She was sleeping when I left her. Charlotte will take good care of her, I'm sure."
"So did you tell her?"
"No. She fell asleep on the way back and didn't wake up before I left. Besides, I feel like it's not just something that can just be thrown out there, I feel like there needs to be some kind of grand gesture, like it should be special."
"Absolutely not. I mean, of course that would be great, but waiting around for the best moment is what will cost you. Who cares as long as she knows. Besides, she doesn't seem like a grand gesture kind of girl." Peter pointed out.
"You're right. I just need to tell her. First chance I get, I'll tell her."
Only my first chance didn't come as fast as I had hoped. It was nearly a week and a half before I saw her again. I had went to go get my horse to go riding, and noticed hers was gone too. I was suddenly excited about the prospect of seeing her, and finally telling her everything I had bottled up for so long. I knew exactly where she would be, and went to find the ruins of the chapel we had been to last.
As I came to the edge of the valley, I saw her sitting against one side of the walls, with her sketchbook spread in front of her, but her head was propped back against the wall and she was sleeping. She was so beautiful, she had a small smile on her face, and I found myself wishing I was the one who put that smile there. I don't know how long I was lost in my own head watching her, when I was brought back to reality by the sounds of voices coming from the other side of the valley. I could tell they were men's voices, and I knew we were too far from the castle for it to be roaming guards or soldiers. Fear shot through me at the thought of Bella being caught alone, I was much too far away to get to her in time. I could only hope they would completely bypass the valley. I started slowly working my way down, trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to draw attention toward her. I was about halfway down when they broke through the tree line. I stopped and waited. There were five of them, and they looked about as rough as they come. Their loud voices echoed through the trees, and Bella started stirring. My heart caught in my chest as I willed her to stay still, unfortunately she didn't read my mind.
"Oy, look what we have here!" I heard one of their rough voices say as she stood up. I watched as she froze when she saw what she was being faced with. I was screaming in my head for her to run, but instead she stood up straight to face them.
"Smart one, this is. She knows better to run." I heard another one say, and I felt that familiar burning inside me once again, as I interpreted his meaning. Bella must have done the same thing, because she turned and shot away toward the opposite direction, and I worked to scramble down the hillside as they pursued after her. She probably would have made it if not for those damn skirts. They grabbed her around the waist and pinned her to a tree just below where I was. I could see him holding her face, and I could see his lips moving as he was talking to her, but I couldn't hear anything, except for the roar of my demon breaking loose.
