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There was something nice about getting to return to a small dwelling.
The Elusia family’s countryside home in the mountains was a nice getaway from the bustling city. The views were breathtaking especially when Ivy had invited Diamant on a wyvern ride through the mountains. But the family was a headache to deal with. He had expected that Ivy’s father would be rather aggressive towards him given the rivalry between the patriarchs of their respective families. What he didn’t expect was the complete dysfunctionality of the family, capped off by an argument-turned-fight between her father and her uncle. The sole bright spot was Ivy’s younger half-sister who was quite friendly to Diamant (though she was jealous of the attention that was being given to him).
Their visit to the Mayor’s residence in Ulster wasn’t much better either. Diamant’s father was surprisingly cordial to Ivy despite the amount of bile that he spewed toward her family. Ivy also found Diamant’s younger brother, an up-and-coming singer, to be cute as well. Still, she couldn’t help but feel that she was an outcast in such a tight-knit family. She was also forced to be careful whenever she left the house given the constant media coverage on the outlandish things that Diamant’s father would do.
Their flat certainly didn’t have any of the trappings of the grand residences that their families used, but Ivy and Diamant were relieved when they were finally able to return after the ordeals of the past week. As soon as they arrived, they changed into more comfortable clothes – Diamant into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie and Ivy into her set of warm pajamas. Ivy also took off her makeup while Diamant heated up water for the tea. After Ivy was done, she prepared the tea since Diamant had proven that he couldn’t make a cup of tea to save his life.
“Here you go,” she said as she brought the tea to the couch.
“It’s too bad that we don’t have a fireplace like at your family’s house. I wouldn’t mind letting you cast a fire spell to warm up the room.” Diamant was flipping through channels on their television. “Nothing interesting on TV unless you want to watch romance movies again.”
Ivy’s face contorted into a disgusted expression which Diamant laughed at, and then he handed the remote control to her. Confirming that there was nothing good on television, she simply turned the television off. “Let’s just…There’s nothing wrong with reading, is there?”
“No, it’s just…” Diamant let out a gigantic yawn which made Ivy laugh. She picked up a book, a historical fiction, and started reading it out loud for him. Midway through the first chapter…
“It must have been a tragedy for the young Prince Ares, he thought. For him to have lost both his parents at such a young age…”
She stopped when she realized that Diamant had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Gently she moved him into a more comfortable position on the couch (it was too bad that she wasn’t strong enough to carry him to his bed).
“Good night, Dee,” she said as she laid a blanket on him. “Thank you for being willing to visit my family, even if they’re such a headache.”
She laid a kiss on his forehead, turned out the lights, and then returned to her bedroom.