Jasper is at the local shops, stocking up on supplies. All the while as he peruses the shelves, he's forming a plan in his head.
Now that the news about Cyrus' past has broken, it seems likely he will be arrested for any one or more of a wide array of his crimes.
But Jasper is no fool. He knows that it will take time for the Police to investigate the evidence and build a case and when it comes to the Prince and Princess, if there are paid assassins after them, time is not a luxury he can afford.
So he'll have to step things up a notch here. He doesn't intend to let Eleanor in on what he's planning. She doesn't need to know there's blood on his hands and he doesn't want to add to the list of things she will worry about.
When he gets back to the house he finds Eleanor has showered and is curled up on the couch, doing apparently nothing. She is wearing the last of her creations that actually fits her - a black mini skirt and purple tank top. The skirt has ridden up almost to her knicker line. He found her distracting enough in what she was wearing this morning but this is even worse for him.
She sits up when he arrives.
"Did you hear any more about Liam?" she questions.
"Not since this morning," Jasper replies. "But you have to remember that no news is good news, it means his condition isn't getting worse."
Eleanor considers this, and then nods, accepting his line of reasoning. "You'll tell me if you hear anything though right?" she asks.
"Right," Jasper replies, moving to start unpacking the groceries.
Eleanor is hungry and bored and she finds herself drawn to the kitchen, where she starts rustling the grocery bags to see what he's brought. She's hoping there's chocolate in there somewhere.
"You know that I'm still mad at you for not telling me about Liam," Eleanor says, to clarify that even if she does find chocolate, she hasn't forgiven him yet.
This was already quite clear to him. "Yeah, I'm getting that," Jasper replies.
He unpacks the final bag and extracts two bars of chocolate.
He watches in amusement as Eleanor's face lights up like a child who's just woken up on Christmas morning.
"Is one of those for me?" she asks, her eyes fixed on his hand.
He's badly tempted to tell her that she can have the chocolate if she gives him a kiss, because every time he looks at her, he wants her. He wants to do a lot of things to her, but he's fighting to control his desires, and just be her bodyguard and keep her safe.
Eleanor's a volatile mix of fire and ice and she's always had a tendency towards combustion. He knows that it would be a mistake to do anything to ignite her, because it's a short step from giving in to desire, to giving into other emotions to a total breakdown. If he can control himself, she has a better chance of keeping it together right now. And he needs her as calm as possible to get her through the next few days alive.
So instead he tells her to take it and walks into his bedroom.
Fifteen minutes later he emerges, dressed in a suit which conceals two guns. He tells Eleanor he's going out but not where to. Before he leaves the house he takes the radio because he doesn't want her winding herself up over any more news reports when he's not there. Then he checks the locks are all secure so that she can't escape and closes the door softly behind him.
"You again! Didn't you scurry out of the country several weeks ago?" Cyrus brows knot together as he regards him as if he was an unsightly stain on an otherwise pristine suit.
Jasper looks around the King's private apartments, taking in the garish clash of purple and red furnishings and lavish use of gold and marble. As he expected there is nothing understated or refined about the King's tastes.
"It must be quite a shock to find I'm still alive considering the orders to kill both me and the Princess presumably came from you," Jasper replies, standing his ground as Cyrus advances towards him.
Cyrus smirks back at him. "You may very well think that, but I couldn't possibly comment."
Cyrus moves to pour himself a drink. "So tell me has my whore of an ex niece managed to narrow down a potential list of fathers for her bastard spawn to a short list from the wide range of possibilities?" he asks, swirling the wine in the glass before taking a sip.
Jasper's jaw tightens and Cyrus raises an eyebrow knowingly.
"Oh, now don't tell me you're on the list? How very cliched."
"There's only one name on the list, which makes it about a thousand times shorter than the list of people who would like you dead, your majesty," Jasper adds the last line with mocking deference.
Cyrus smiles and shrugs, "Better to be bad than boring, I say."
"Let's cut the small talk. I'm here to tell you that you need to call off whoever you've told to kill the Prince and the Princess if you value your life." Jasper's voice is soft and low and deadly serious.
"Is that a threat?" Cyrus replies back, as his temper starts to rise.
"You can it that if you like, I'd prefer to call it a fact," Jasper replies back, his face giving nothing away.
Cyrus advances on Jasper and whispers in his face. "Well let me tell you, boy, that the King of England does not listen to empty threats from nobodies. So you can take yourself off and scurry back to your slutty ex Princess right now and don't come back here again."
Jasper eyeballs the Prince right back and pulls himself taller upright. "As you wish your majesty."
Jasper turns towards the door and opens the doors, then turns back towards the King, his hands resting on the door knobs. He leans back against the door and says in a voice full of casual menace. "Oh and before I go here's another fact for you. You picked the wrong nobody to cross."
With that he exits the room, leaving the King glaring at doors left swinging from his unwelcome visitor.