Bound- Red Threads of Fate Jaya AU

Invisible string

She had to think about it for a moment, but when she started talking, the words spilled out of her. "I guess . . . I just want to be able to do what I want, even things I don't know I want yet, and not care what other people think. And not be defined just by what I choose to do. I want to be able to be your girlfriend, without only being known as that, or for breaking my vows to be with you. And if I ever feel responsible enough and want to learn to read the red threads again, I want to be able to without having to only be the thread-mage."

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"What?"

"Well, that seems completely reasonable to me. And I'm sure anyone else who really cares will agree. And if they don't, that's okay. It's your life, after all. And I'll help you make it happen."

"But . . ." She stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on in his brain. "Why? Isn't it not the logical option? Isn't it selfish? Why would you want that?"

"No, of course not!" He sounded horrified that she would even suggest such a thing. "Of course it isn't selfish. It's just giving you the opportunities that you deserve, that everyone else has but you. And as for the logical option, I don't think there is one, exactly. There's no perfect choices when it comes to this sort of thing. But if this is what you want, so do I. Because we're soulmates, right?"

He smiled at her, and she so wanted to believe him, but another horrible thought was surfacing in her brain, and she couldn't stop it, and–"How can you trust that we actually are soulmates, if it's just because of a curse?" She blurted out.

"It's not just because of a curse," He told her logically. "Emperor Wu said so–at least that's what you told me. He said the curse just makes you able to see the threads–which are already there and beyond our control–without all the intense studying and stuff. Right?"

She nodded. "I guess so."

"And even if I can't see the threads, and neither can you," He continued, "we still know they're there. Because . . . this feels right. Doesn't it?"

"Yes." She smiled, for what felt like the first time in too long. Then he leaned towards her, bringing his hand shyly to her chin, pulling her lips to his as she wrapped one arm around his neck, her other hand grabbing onto his shirt. And then–

An explosion rang out somewhere below, and Nya screamed.

"What was that?" Jay shrieked.

"What was that?" Someone else shrieked, even higher pitched, from below.

Nya peered down into the darkness, heart pounding. She couldn't see much–the sun had fully set–but then she noticed, on the far side of the courtyard, a glowing light rising into the air, then coming towards her and Jay. Then she realized it was someone lifting a lantern, and running across the courtyard.

"My stars, are you on the roof?" The someone called, and Nya realized it was Skylor. Suddenly embarrassed by her earlier scream of terror, she felt her face warm.

"What was that noise?" Jay asked indignantly.

"Firecrackers." Skylor replied, sounding as sheepish as she could while still keeping her voice loud enough for them to hear from two stories above her. "The prince and I sometimes set off firecrackers, as long as the emperors are in the upper palace."

The prince–Nya could just make out his small figure running haphazardly across the courtyard to join Skylor.

"Who are you talking to, Sky?" He asked timidly. "The sky?" He giggled at his own joke.

"It's just Nya and Jay. They're on the roof, see?" Skylor pointed up at them with the hand not holding the lantern.

"Oh." Lloyd seemed to think for a moment. "Why can't we go on the roof?"

"Because you're too small to climb up here." Nya said, thinking quick. She assumed the emperors wouldn't want their heir climbing about on roofs, even if Skylor didn't mind.

"Yes," Nya was glad Skylor went along with it. "Besides, I tried it once and it isn't much fun. Firecrackers are much better."

"Oh, okay." He tugged at her arm. "Can we set off more then?"

"We'll set off more tomorrow night, if your father's still up on the mountain." Skylor said. "We don't want to disturb our guests."

"Oh, no, it's alright." Nya didn't want to ruin their fun. "Go ahead and set them off tonight."

"Are you sure?" Skylor asked. "I mean, I know it's pretty loud. We can just leave you to your–"

"No, it's fine." Jay said. "Feel free. Just give us one minute. We should really be going back inside soon anyway."

"Okay." Skylor sounded surprised. "Thanks." She turned to Lloyd, always quick to teach her young friend how to behave. "Say thank you."

"Thank you!" He jumped up and down. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, your highness." Nya laughed. "Goodnight, Skylor."

While Skylor and the prince walked back across the courtyard towards their firecrackers, Nya turned to Jay.

"So, what did you want the one minute for?"

He smiled, then reached forward to rest her cheek in his hand. "To do this."

Then he closed the gap between them, all the way this time, so their lips fully touched, and kissed her for a long moment. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him in a warm embrace.

Neither of them were certain who pulled away first, but when they did, they both knew it was different from their other brief, sort-of kisses. Because this time, it wasn't a fleeting goodbye. Neither of them felt awkward or ran away. Jay simply helped Nya down from the roof and they headed inside, closing the door just as the next explosion rang out behind them.

Note: I think I'd better use this opportunity to clear up a mistake I made that's been in the back of my mind for a while. Firstly, yes, this is their first actual kiss on the lips, the other "sort-of kisses" weren't. Quite a while ago Jay kissed Nya's forehead, and she described it as "he'd kissed me again and I'd done nothing about it" or something like that, which is a mistake because the last time they'd sort of kissed, she actually instigated it, kissing him on the cheek. Anyway, I know that doesn't matter much but I did notice it a while after publishing that chapter, so if any of you did, just wanted to acknowledge the mistake I guess.

Also, thank you all for reading! This book is almost over, so thanks for sticking with me and my weird posting schedule through all this. You certainly deserved the fluff.