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The last thing Leonardo wanted from this marriage was to fall in love with his wife.
He had only agreed to this arrangement because he knew it wouldn’t last. She would stay only for a couple of months, because the laws of the magical government about peculiari like her forced her to get married and he could get a slight break from his family. Leonardo had no idea what she would do afterward, but law was never something he felt interested in understanding.
In the time they had spent together, they had grown close, though. She was a curious woman, both to pique Leonardo’s interest and to be interested in all the things he could teach her.
For Leonardo, it was fine that they would become friends, make each other’s time worthwhile, so they would have fond memories on parting. What he didn’t expect was that he would really fall in love.
As time passed and the day of their separation got closer, Leonardo found himself afraid to let go of what he had with her. If only he could hold into it, keep their current arrangement, keep her close… but wouldn’t he always wish for more? Besides, why would she stay? This wasn’t her place.
But strange as it would seem, the closer she was to finally be free of this charade they were playing at, she got quieter, almost distant. Some days, if Leonardo didn’t go out of the way to look for her, they could spend the whole day without seeing each other, almost as if she was avoiding him.
So that night he sought her, finding her alone in the attic.
“Hiding from me, cara mia?”
“Oh, I know it is pointless to try to hide from you.” She gave a weak chuckle, not taking her eyes from the window.
“Then what are you doing here?” He sat in the space in front of her, but she still didn’t look at him, but Leonardo found it wasn’t because she was avoiding him. Although she was listening, her attention seemed focused on something farther than the city below.
“Just appreciating the view… I guess.”
“You guess?” Leonardo laughed. “Doesn’t look like you’re really appreciating it, though. I thought you would be happier that you’re almost free of me.”
“Free…” she whispered, lowering her gaze.
There was such a longing in her voice that Leonardo wanted to reach out through the little space separating them and comfort her. What was it she wasn’t telling him? Wasn’t their brief wedding supposed to be a stepping stone for her to find a happy life away from the authorities’ pressure?
“Cara… you never told me. Where are you going, after all?” Leonardo asked casually.
“Why? I’m honoring our agreement. Does it matter?”
Why did she sound like she was struggling? Like she would cry? Like he was pressuring her?
“Since when do you bother with why I want to know things?” He tried to keep the humorous tone, despite being more and more worried. It felt like the beat approach to her problem. “Besides, is it so strange to want to know what will become of a friend when they leave?”
Just as Leonardo expected, she finally looked his way for a moment, before looking away again with a heavy sigh.
“Can’t hide things from you either, can I? But thanks for trying to be discreet about it, though.” Silence lasted a little too long. Leonardo was sure she wouldn’t open up and was ready to change tactics when she spoke again. “The truth is, I never wanted to go, as much as I didn’t want to come here. My only options at first seemed to be a loveless marriage where I likely wouldn’t be respected, both because of how our society is built and because both mages and demi-humans tend to look down on peculiar humans; or a temporary one I could escape from. But my only actual escape is a kind of magical military camp. Not the best place to be, but better than staying in an unfortunate marriage. But what we have… is different than anything I expected, and deep down, I don’t want to go. But I can’t just stay and keep you bound to me.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you did. It’s been fun living with you.”
“You say that now, but what about when you want something real and you’re still stuck with me? Besides, the longer we stay together, the closer we get, even if it is as friends, and the harder it will be to say goodbye.”
Leonardo reached out, placing a hand on top of her head.
“You always say I sacrifice myself for other people, but isn’t that what you are doing too? You like your new life here, yet you want to give up your happiness because you’re worried about mine. It doesn’t matter if you’re here or not, we’re already close enough it will hurt either way. So you don’t have to worry about me. Think about your own happiness for once.”
“When one has to sacrifice something, neither can be happy but, in my case, either I’m unhappy somewhere else, or both of us are unhappy here. Is there an actual solution?”
He smiled when she looked up at him again, softly messing her hair.
“Why don’t you give it a little more time until we find out? If it doesn’t work, maybe you can find someone else in the meantime. If I have to let you go, I want to know it is because it will make you happy, cara mia.”
“If I stay any longer, I’ll never be able to leave.” She looked at him again, her gaze wavering. “I know it isn’t right, it isn’t what we wanted but, at some point I really fell in love with you. I planned to go away without telling you, but now you’re asking me to stay and, as much as I want to, we weren’t supposed to fall in love and my feelings might get in the way of what we could have had as friends or…”
“Cara mia?” Leonardo called a little louder to stop her rambling, laughing at how she turned to him with wide eyes. “Deep breaths.”
She closed her eyes and did as instructed.
“Sorry.” Came the murmur afterward. “Forget that. I…”
Leonardo reached for her again, this time resting his hand on her cheek.
“You’re not the only one who broke our promise. I told you I wasn’t going to fall for you but, from the start, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. But I was also going to let you go, because I thought that was the best for you, but how can I when the future I thought would bring you happiness hurt you like this? When it would change the bright and gentle woman I came to know, and not for the better? I still think you should wait a little more and then find someone else but, if you can’t, then it is what it is. I’ll have to keep you as my compagna and keep making you happy.”
She smiled at him and Leonardo saw her look of hesitance change to one of determination as she placed a hand over his.
“Then I guess, as your wife, I’ll have to keep you just as happy. I’ll make this work. It won’t be easy for either of us, but it is worth the trouble. Despite the problems we’ll have to navigate through, it will only draw the best out of us, because we make each other complete. Isn’t it what love is about?”
“I can’t really deny it.”
With a soft smile, Leonardo pulled her for a kiss, the first of many to come.