Eleanor just handed Jules the precious liquor, highly toxic to anyone who would just simply taste a drop of it. The bottle was so tiny he could keep it in the palm of his hand, and hide it in his closed fist. As soon as Jules arrived in the Rosiers’ Manor, he ordered the elf who was on hi spath to go seek Juri, and to tell her to find him. Now. The Japanese raven was the only one he would trust with this job. She was loyal to him, and he put his trust in her as well as he would let her take care of his life. Even the greatest men need someone to have their back, and for Jules it was Juri. The prince found this girl in a pub, where she was working for an old wizard. She could not speak English, not properly, when he found her. She taught him how to pronounce her name, he taught her a bit more of English. He gave her a roof, he gave her food on her table everyday, he gave her a job and something to live for: his own success. Jules never tried to understand if this was enough for someone to live for, he never ever tried to understand why valets and maids liked to do this job, was not even sure they did love their jobs but he did not really care. He found in Juri more than just a maid, or than a spy. She quickly become some sort of a friend, someone who knew more about him than his actual friends. The future king climbed the stairs quickly, and went to his private office, not far from his bedroom. He put the phial on his desk, right when the door opened, and then closed in his back. “Juri.” The absence of any response confirmed it was her. Still, the young wizard turned around to face her. “I have a special mission for you.” He moved his fingers, anxiety was showing in his gesture and she could see it. The half-blood was working for him for too long to know. He was just about to ask this girl to kill someone. Someone she never met, someone she never heard about because he took care of never mentioning this wizard, to anyone. No one knew, not even Margot nor Auriane. Only Eleanor, because they overheard the wizards having a rough conversation. “I need you to promise you’d do anything I’d ask, first.” Their gaze met, by now she should be aware thos would be her worst task to accomplish, ever.

eyes wide shut

JULES ROSIER & JURI SAKAMOTO

It was night, rain was falling and ladies were in their bed. Only Juri, proud crow of the night was awake this late in the evening. An elf came for her and told her Jules was looking for her. Troubles. Jules was always looking for troubles and when he was, he first went toward the little flower to assist her. Long time ago, it was her nickname. When her mind was pure and exempted from the filth of her wicked mother. When her skin was still clear and her heart intact. However now, she was not a sweet flower but a raven. Empty and dark, a lost and soiled raven. One who looks through the night with a sharp sight, one who flies through the air with wings made of iron. Juri often asks herself when did she lose her innocence. Was it when the witch came for her? When she threw her in dirt and forced her to become nothing but a rough and stained bird? Or was it, when again she was compelled to understand a world that wasn’t hers. She always wonders, she always doubts. What would she be without him? Did he really save her? Or was he just another kidnapper, another one to take advantage of her kindness? Is she really free? The House Rosier is just another chain, one she gladly locked on her wrists. Perhaps she should get out...

It’s night, the moon is whole and the raven shivers. She takes her wand and closed the windows. Rain is a music she’s not eager to ear tonight. She enters Jules’ room. A breeze, a wind, a silence. He recognizes her presence. “Juri.” She’s cold, as always. Emotions and reactions do not reach her face. She waits in the dark like she’s used to. She, the smothered flower, the corrupted bird. If he’s the light destined to control the world, she’s the shadow dancing behind him. Always following him, existing thanks to him. Sometimes she wonders... What will happen to her when he’ll be king? Will she be able to stay by his side or will he throw her away like she saw him do with so many pawns before? Will he have the audacity to eliminate her or will he be ruled by his emotions and keep her around? She’s just a pawn after all and she knows it. She doubts, she hesitates. Does he really trust her? Why would he? She’s nothing. And when she’ll die, she will return to nothing. Whereas he’s a future king, eternity awaits him and his ashes will have the color of gold and diamonds. He will be remembered. She will not. Pride makes her doubt and she’s not comfortable with the rain tonight. She’s her friend and he trusts her. Somehow.

“I have a special mission for you.” He’s nervous, anxious and she can’t say why. She doesn’t understand. He’s always so confident and arrogant that she thought he was unreachable. But something came and he worries. He looks tired, like if sleep completely disappeared of his body. She’s frowning at him while approaching. “What is wrong, Jules-sama?” She still has that bad habit to keep the honorifics. Sama is used to someone you deeply respect, someone of higher rank than yours. It’s a bad habit, she should drop it but she can’t. Somehow, they will never be equals and she needs to remind herself this every day. “I need you to promise you’d do anything I’d ask, first.” She meets her gaze and suddenly, she feels uneasy. Something is wrong. Why can’t he just say it. She always doubts him but it’s because of her lack of self-confidence. But Jules has no reason to doubt her. A little piece of her heart is skinned by his words. How dares he, after everything she has done for him. “Always.” she reassured him. He’s the one who took a hallow shell and filled her with a goal. He took her out of the street where she was left wandering in despair and he feed her, clothed her, gave her a family to love and protect. In that, he will never know how thankful she is. “You know I’ll always be here for you. No matter what.” That’s it. They’re together in this. If after eight years they don’t trust each other, then she should go find another job.

Jules is an observer. Quiet and calm when the situation requires him to be just like the snake represented on his old school uniform. He observed her, for quite a long time. At school, first. The Japanese student fascinated him beyond any measure, beyond reason. He wanted to get to know her, and so he did. The prince observed more, he looked for her, never forget that Japanese talented girl and found her somewhere in the streets. He observed more, interrogated people who, he knew, crossed her path. And so, after all those years of observation, he noticed a change in her gaze. Something he was not quite sure about, something he wanted to put his finger on, but could not even reach, no matter how hard he would try. He frowned, the pure blood prince, but then, she answered. “Always.” Why? Well that was an easy question: he gave her everything, was only asking her loyalty in return, and a few tasks he would never trust anyone else to do. And still, she could betray him at any minute, because the fool was too damn confident not to ask for the unbreakable vow. “You know I’ll always be there for you, no matter what.” Maybe she was feeling betrayed by his question? “I’m not questioning your loyalty, Juri.” The letters rolled on his tongue, just as she taught him. That was the only word he could properly say in Japanese, she tried to teach him more, but he could not speak them as well as the witch’s first name. The young man whas not questioning the fact that qhe was, indeed, loyal to him. He knew that fact, he knew because everything he asked, she did. She followed his sister even though she is a member of the Rosier’s house, the very house she was supposed to serve and protect. But Juri was his, first. He was the one who found her, he was the one who took her out of her misery, to put her in a house, where she could have her personal bedroom, a plate full of food on a table and decent clothes. He believed that was not something one could just forget and spit on. She would not, he got to know her and knew she would never forget that gesture of kindness. Because that is how he wanted her to see it: kindness, when, in fact, it was just taking an advantage of her situation to get his own loyal spy. He saw an opportunity in her, and seized it. The wizard would have been a fool not to do that. Everyone else was a fool because they did not observe, and they did not take action. He took a breathe, wetted his lower lip with the tip of his tongue and, then, spoke again. “I’m not questioning the quality of your devotion.” The Rosier’s heir calmed down, he took another glance at her, anchored his gaze in hers, did not let her try to escape his golden gaze. “I was just wondering how far it goes, does it have any boundaries? You’d tell me? Right?” That was not a question to be answered by a negative response, and she was smart enough to know. If she dared doing that, he would not trust her, not ever, not again. And she knows that, because she knows him. Ambition is his aura, that is what makes men respect him just by taking a glance at the man he has become. “As I said, this a special mission. I only trust you for this matter.” She was special, after all. An opportunity that turned into a must have, that transformed into a person he could never let go. She was there, and would there until he’d breathe his dying breathe, and even after, for his children, until she’d exhale her dying breathe.