Chapter Twenty

Avalon would likely never understand, and Jasper wasn’t sure if he could explain it, but when Merlin explained how people of old used to think, it was as if Jasper’s world view shifted. It allowed him to see the events of what happened to him when he was captured from a different perspective. Prior to Merlin’s assessment, Jasper had focused on wanting to find out why his captors had made such a distinction between the woman who’d given birth to him, and the Queen who’d raised him his whole life.

Yes, there was a dash of revenge wanted in that thinking as well – putting the fact he’d just been ill aside, Jasper was still a man who’d gone through hell. But ever since Jasper had been returned to Lowenthorp castle, he felt as though he was swimming in a myriad of questions with no clear answers. It wasn’t as though he could ask his mother – he’d never had any wish to cause her any further distress, and speaking of what he’d been through could put her in danger.

The answers are here in this cave. Jasper knew that as instinctively as he knew his magic would keep him safe with his head under the water. He ignored the scene of his humiliation and pain. He would get no answers there. But he remembered from his time in captivity, and the subsequent nightmares, that the one cave where he had been held was part of a system. Jasper had never been beyond the walls of the cave he was in, but he distinctly remembered people coming and going from different directions, which had to imply other entrances or spaces people could be in.

But which one? There were two areas where it was obvious from the shadows that the cave system extended beyond what he could see. His magic was leaning towards the left, but Jasper couldn’t let go of his natural caution and quickly crossed the cave floor, directing some light to the entry on the right.

Fine. You were right. There was nothing there but what looked like a rumpled day bed, a discarded tankard, and a chunky small wooden table. The sort of space a person might rest in after torturing a victim. Jasper curled his lip and moved to the other side of the cave, conscious of Avalon shadowing his every move. The man had his sword in hand, and Jasper was momentarily reminded of knights of old – pictures he’d poured over when he was a child. Avalon reminded him of one of those story book heroes.

The entrance to the left, the one his magic was leaning towards, was more obscured. Jasper had to move around a rock sideways to get through it, and he heard Avalon’s sharp inhale as he eased his way between two more rocks. The barrier was minimal and once past it, the cave opened out again into a much larger space – larger than the chamber Jasper had been held in.

“What in the name of Magic and Steam is this place?” Eyes wide, Avalon stepped up beside him. “Do I want to know what’s in those containers? By gods, the stench from that spice mix is leaving a nasty taste in my mouth.”

“Cover your nose and mouth,” Jasper said quickly as he clicked up two large squares of material. “I don’t know what it might do to you. The men who used this space didn’t seem to be affected by it, but I can’t discount the possibility it was the mix that suppressed my magic. Likely ingested as opposed to sniffed, but we shouldn’t take any chances.”

Handing one of the material squares to his husband, Jasper folded his one diagonally and wrapped it over his nose and mouth, tying it in a knot at the back of his neck. Only once he was comfortable that it was secure did he take the time to study the contents of the space.

It was a workshop of sorts, although more like a shop of horrors as opposed to a place of gainful employment. Tools and iron implements hung from bits of wire from cracks in the rock walls. Long, thick planks of wood had been fashioned into a workbench of sorts. Half melted candles left their wax debris in patches on the scratched and gouged surface.

The containers Avalon mentioned – there were eight of them in various sizes, lined up in no apparent order on the edge of the workbench. They were made from a dark clay that made seeing the contents impossible without taking out the corked lids. Not something Jasper or his magic was keen on doing. Jasper recognized a mortar and pestle covered in grime, casually discarded on its side as though the owner had just got bored with it and gone on to play with other toys.

Its not here. You need to go deeper. Yet there were no other obvious ways to go beyond the way they’d come. Jasper’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the rock walls, looking for an anomaly, something that indicated there could be more behind it. Avalon was studying the tools hung on the wall, and Jasper refused to consider what his husband might be thinking. It took two scans of the walls to find what he was looking for – a tiny, thin shadow that ran in a jagged line up the rock face, barely the width of a finger, and about the height of a full-grown male.

Moving closer, Jasper held out his hand. The magic in his fingertips made them twitch and tingle, yet Jasper could feel in his gut he had a right to be cautious. Do I really want to know what’s in the next room?

Yes!

The answer was absolute – it didn’t come from something aside from Jasper, or even inside of him. It was as if, now he had the freedom to use his magic, for the first time in his life his magic had become a part of him rather than the separate entity Jasper had grown up fearing it had been. It gave him courage, standing as he was in the scene of his biggest humiliation and pain. I am finally who I am meant to be.

“Something interesting on this wall?” Avalon was back by his side.

“There’s an indication of another entrance that leads deeper into the mountain.” Jasper pointed out the thin shadow he could see.

Walking over to it, Avalon ran his hand down the shadow and shook his head. “There is no way a person could get around this. The gap is only four fingers wide.”

“Then we’ll go through. Stand back.” Jasper raised both hands, his palms facing the rock wall. “If you hear a rumble overhead, get clear of the cave system as fast as you can, and wait for the others to arrive. I guarantee Duncan and Merlin will already be on their way.”

“I’m not leaving your side, you damn fool. Don’t you understand how much I’ve come to care about you?”

Now is not the time. Although Jasper’s heart jolted and heated at the words.“I care for you, too, which is why this has to be done. I need answers.” Jasper pushed – not in the physical sense, but he felt his magic flow through his fingers, smashing on the rocks in front of him. For a moment, nothing happened, and then, just as Jasper was about to give up, a huge slab of rock, cut in the shape of a door started to move.

“What the…”

Jasper was aware Avalon was reaching for him, likely to pull him back, but he darted forward, shoving his magic at the rock slab, pushing it, smashing into it. His magic wanted it gone, and Jasper was all for that. Whatever they were looking for was on the other side of that door, and by all that mattered, Jasper was getting close enough to touch it. The door resisted – it was a hefty chunk of rock, but Jasper was determined, and within a minute the door was dust, making Jasper glad of the face covering he was wearing as he waved aside the plumes of rock debris.

The room was small, but it was lit by magical crystals that ringed the room, the combination of light and shadow giving it the appearance of being bigger than it was. Jasper wasn’t sure if the lights had come on because the door had been opened, or if the room was constantly bathed in gentle light, but that really didn’t matter. He was immediately fixated on the single item in the room – a large trunk. Jasper’s magic was fizzing.

“That does not look good.” Avalon was glaring at the magical crystals the trunk was surrounded by. “Whoever set this up did not want anyone touching that trunk.”

“My eye is in there.” Jasper realized his voice had dropped to a whisper, so he repeated himself. “My eye is in there.” Stronger this time. “Those crystals can’t keep me out, because part of who I am is locked in that trunk.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Jasper couldn’t explain it. He just knew he had to open that trunk. There was nothing remarkable about it from a visual perspective. It was big. Someone, a long time ago, had painted it blue, but that color was well faded. The two leather straps that ran around it were cracked and hadn’t been oiled. Even the lock, a cumbersome piece of metal about the size of Jasper’s hand, was rusted.

“Keep an eye out for intruders,” he said softly, more to give Avalon something to do than anything else. “We have no idea if there are sensors or magical alarms in these caves.” Jasper didn’t believe that there was, but he needed to focus, and Avalon’s concern, about me, was making that difficult.

As Jasper got closer, he could sense that the magic in the crystals was weak. He did a quick date check in his head – how long since he’d been taken, how long he’d been free before his marriage, and then the week since Avalon had taken him as a consort. If, as he suspected, the trunk contained his eye, then the magical crystals could have been set up two months before.

Magical crystals didn’t power things that long. They needed recharging, although that meant the crystals around the walls had been newly replaced, maybe? Jasper’s eye widened as he passed his hand across the top of the closest crystals. They thought they were charging these crystals under the trunk with my magic. The fools.

Pulling his knife from the top of his boot, Jasper grabbed hold of one of the leather straps holding the trunk closed. He felt a tiny jolt in his fingers and then one by one the crystals under the trunk all dimmed as if the mere act of breaching them was causing them to use the last of their power.

More determined than ever, Jasper sliced through one strap and then the other, momentarily flummoxed by the large lock. It wasn’t as though someone had hung a key in an easily accessible or visible place for him to find. Conscious of the passing time, Jasper laid his hand against the lock face, hearing the clink, clink, clink as the lock tumblers all twirled and the lock fell to the ground with a subdued thud.

“Jasper, are you sure…” Avalon warned as he went to lift the lid.

“I have to see.” Jasper had no idea how prophetic his words would be. Planting his feet firmly, he heaved the lid open, letting it fall backwards with a heavy thud. “They took everything,” he said in a shocked gasp as he studied the contents.

Long blond hair still tied together the way it had been when it had been removed from his neck. A vial of dark liquid that Jasper knew was the blood his captors had scraped from his wounds. And sitting in the center of the trunk on a shallow dish was his eye, surprisingly as vibrant and moist as it likely had been when it had been taken.

Jasper’s heart started to race, his hands trembling as he reached in and picked up the dish. The white iris had a faint ring of blue around it – something Jasper had never noticed all the times he’d seen it in the mirror. But he knew, with every cell of his being, that he was looking at his eye.

“That’s incredible magic.” Avalon’s voice was filled with awe. “You should put it back where it came from.”

“They aren’t keeping it.” Jasper pulled the dish closer to his chest. “This is mine. They have no rights to it.”

“No, my precious husband, I never meant for you to leave them with a crucial part of who you are. I mean, you should let your magic do its work and heal what was taken from you.”

“You mean…” Reaching up, Jasper lightly touched the corner of the eyepatch he was wearing. “The healers sewed up the hole.”

Avalon snorted and waved his hand around, indicating the cave. “You’ve just blasted a thousand-pound door to dust. You’ve breathed underwater when other men would’ve died. You’ve transported not only yourself, but me as well, more than half a day’s ride in the blink of an eye. I don’t think a few scars made by a healer are going to be a barrier to your magic, do you?”

“You’re right. I know you’re right.” It wasn’t as though Jasper could explain what he’d done any other way. His magic, now he could use it freely, was a powerful force. “I’m scared,” he admitted softly, looking up at Avalon’s strong face. “What if this doesn’t work? What if this is all just a dream and I’m asleep in a tent somewhere along the trail?”

“If you’re dreaming, then I am, too.” Avalon’s fingers were warm on his skin as he gently removed Jasper’s eyepatch one handed. “And in my dream, your magic makes all things possible, including restoring your eye to its rightful place. It’s clearly been waiting for you, or it would be crumbled dust by now. Go on,” he urged. “I believe you can do this. I believe in you.”

His mind might not comprehend the mechanics, but his magic knew what had to be done. Tipping the eye into the palm of his hand – it felt warm, and it was pulsing quietly, as if waiting, just like Avalon said. Closing his good eye, Jasper envisaged how he used to be – the long hair, his eye with the white iris – someone whole and not scarred by the actions of cruel men who didn’t understand him. He could feel his skin glowing – radiating warmth, and yet there was something cleansing in the energies as well. As if Jasper was reclaiming his true self.

“Open your eyes,” Avalon whispered. “Look at me.”

Jasper’s eyes flew open – both of them. “What do you see?” He was almost too scared to ask.

“I’ve always seen your missing eye in the way your magic wanted it to be.” Avalon’s smile was so full of affection. “But this is the first time I can reach out and touch your working eyelid, or stroke down your long hair.” Jasper’s eyes fluttered closed as Avalon’s finger lightly traced both eyelids, and then Jasper felt the weight of that hand in his hair. “You have reclaimed yourself, and I have never been so proud as I am of you in this moment.”

“Which is all very touching, but that just goes to prove what an abomination you are,” a harsh voice broke the beauty of the moment. “I told Joseph we should’ve just killed you.”

Jasper was shoved behind Avalon’s body, and with sword raised, Avalon faced the angry faces of three men Jasper did remember. He raised his hands, ready to blast the men as quickly as he had the rock door. But his magic didn’t respond – at least not in the way Jasper expected.

Wait. The whisper passed through his mind. These men have the answers you need. Let our husband handle this.