Hello again, my gorgeous readers.

It has been long since I have last written anything. I hoped you guys have enjoyed "Goodbye My Lover" and your support made me so happy. Therefore I decided that I will continue with my slash writing career.

I must warn you this story is significantly darker than any other stories I have written. This will contain abuse, revenge, and rape. Those of the fainthearted, you have been warned.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belongs to the ever lovely Stephenie Meyer. Only the plot belongs to me.

I would like to thank my editor, the beautiful Layne Faire, for helping me with this story. She knows how desperately I need help in the grammar department. It's shameful, really, and that is why I am so grateful to her. Please send your love to her!

That's it for now. Enjoy the story!

xoxo

Stormy Bella

Chapter 1

The First Kiss

The first time Edward kissed Jasper, they were in the middle of the marketplace. Though the memory was quite vague—barely bubbling on the surface of the prince's mind, like a story so old that its pages yellowed at the edges—Edward distinctly remembered those vivid sapphire eyes. He was about ten or so at the time, and he figured Jasper couldn't have been older than eight. Edward had been travelling through the marketplace with his usual entourage of lethal bodyguards surrounding him, so imagine his surprise when this little pipsqueak of a boy managed to steal his bag of gold. Right there and then,

Edward saw immense potential in those sapphire eyes and that determined line of a mouth. Before

Edward could react or Jasper could run, a sword was already pointed at the blond boy's throat when one of the guards discovered him. It was the look Jasper gave the guard that made Edward realized why he thought of Jasper's eyes as sapphire—they were hard and sharp, seemingly able to cut through the soul of the guard by just one glance. Edward—who was rarely ever impressed by anything—was in awe.

"Let him go," Edward ordered.

"Your Highness—"

"I said 'Let him go.' Did you not hear it the first time?" Edward ordered again, his tone colder this time.

"He could be an assassin, Your Highness!" the guard warned, reluctant to lower his sword.

"If he were, then perhaps he would have succeeded, thanks to you imbeciles. Now, perhaps it seemed to you that I was speaking in French, because what other reason is there for you not following my order? Must I repeat myself, this time in plain, stupid, commoner English?" Edward sneered.

"No, Your Highness." The guard lowered his head and, gingerly, his sword.

As the bronze-haired prince began to approach him, the boy—snapping out of the shock at his good fortune—sprang out of the prince's reach and started to run, bag of gold in hand.

The prince and his guards chased after the small thief down the river bank, and upon finally catching up with him, one of the younger guards attempted to tackle the boy. The boy instinctively dodged, missed his step, and fell down into the river.

Hearing the boy's desperate cries for help, Edward jumped down to rescue him without a thought for his own safety. The guards yelled frantically, while the young prince struggled to drag the flailing—and drowning—thief to safety. Once they were safe on the riverbank, and finally regaining their breaths,

Prince Edward burst out in laughter while the young thief looked on in puzzlement.

"W-What kind of…" Edward's shoulders shook with his ringing laugh, "…what kind of thief does not know how to swim? Do you only plan to escape on foot?"

The small boy's vivid eyes widened at the sight of the laughing prince, before he too collapsed in giggles.

The situation was too ridiculous. The guards, likewise, were baffled by the scene in front of them: they had never seen their prince lose his composure in a fit of giggles that way, especially after such a traumatic event. The Captain, not knowing what to do, acted upon his first thought and seized the thief.

"This thief needs to die after putting Prince Edward in such danger!" the Captain yelled.

"Captain," Edward began with a stern voice, though his eyes were still full of mirth, "surely the thief deserves to die. But what would I gain from that? He has already lost my gold, and if you kill him now, what have I got left for myself? It seems that I stand to lose the most, for I think surely his life is not worth as much gold as I had in that bag, is it? Do you wish for me to lose all, Captain?" Edward smiled, amused by the now-flustered Captain. The man was all brute and no brain.

"O-Of course not, Your Highness! You are right, this thief should become a slave in your castle. I am sure that the cook will have some use of him." The captain nodded.

Edward smiled. "Right you are, Captain, except that this boy did not steal from the cook, did he? No, he stole from me. It was my gold that he lost. So why should the cook benefit from my loss? Do I look like the kind of imbecile who would allow such a disadvantageous solution for myself?"

The thief could not hide his own smirk, for now he had realized that the bronze-haired prince was making a game out of the captain.

"Of course not, Your Highness!" The captain reddened: he had come to the same conclusion as the thief.

"And besides, to be the cook's helper is too high a station for a thief of this kind. His is like an insect, a bloodsucker that preys on unsuspecting bystanders to make a living for himself." Edward's cheeky grin belied his innocent demeanor. "Should we not think of a position more fitting for this kind of person?"

"Of course, Your Highness." The captain quickly agreed, thankful that the prince was no longer teasing him.

"Ah!" Prince Edward smiled fondly at the thief. "Perhaps I have found a station low enough for you, thief." Edward lowered himself onto his knees to level his eyes to the thief's. The blonde was startled at such tenderness he saw in the prince's eyes. "What is your name? After all, I cannot call you 'thief' forever."

"Miguel." The thief answered swiftly. Almost too swiftly.

"Ah, Miguel." Edward grinned. "Would you answer me a question, Miguel?"

The thief nodded.

"What is your real name, Miguel? Be honest this time, will you? After all, I did drag you out of the river, so I would like to think that my life is worth an honest answer. Don't you?"

After hesitating for a moment, the boy whispered, "Jasper." He was, much to the prince's delight, telling the truth this time.

"Jasper." Edward rolled the name on his tongue, testing it out. "Jasper, I have found a station lowly enough for you, so low that perhaps the poorest scum on this earth might sneer at it," Edward murmured with amusement laced with a tinge of bitterness. Then, in the middle of the chaotic marketplace and in front of all his guards, Edward swept Jasper's dripping hair away from his face and kissed the boy's wet forehead.

"Would you be my best friend, Jasper?"

Hope you enjoyed that! Chapter 2 will be up soon.