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Malleus liked to think he was far more observant than the mortal population of Night Raven College, apparently, gave him credit for.
He was well aware that the majority of the population was fearful of him, just as he was keenly aware of the fact that his presence on campus was tolerated in part because of that fear, official invitation to the school or not. Overall his time at Night Raven the past two years had been pleasant, a rich learning experience in what it was like to rub elbows with non-fae outside of Silver and the halfling Zigvolts. It gave him a glimpse of what he could build Briar Valley into in the coming thousands of years of his rulership, as well as a peaked awareness of the darkness that overshadowed his life up until two years ago.
Two years ago, he was introduced to a searing bright light. He was a personal sun that threatened to burn him from the moment they met and came fascinatingly close to it approximately last month. Malleus still wasn’t quite sure what to think about him, his sun. There was an ache that grumbled and growled like an injured direbeast in his chest whenever his sun’s lush green eyes were on him, a wildfire dancing behind them so hot it threatened to consume Malleus if he weren’t careful. Seldom before had a singular person occupied his thoughts the way this radiance of a person did— in anger, in want, in the desire to learn what made this therian who dared to think he could be his equal tick.
Despite his wants, his desires , Malleus restrained himself in searching his fellow prince out as often as he easily could, especially in the days following the interdorm spelldrive tournament. Better for their encounters to be easily misconstrued as chance to not garner the lion therian’s ire while he recovered from his ordeal. He would resume his courtship maneuvers in time.
It was to Malleus’ surprise then when on the Friday after Halloween, Lilia had announced to him that Kingscholar had invited the former general to attend a festival with him in Sunset Savanna over the weekend. Lilia had laughed when he informed him that Kingscholar had specifically instructed him to tell Malleus about the affair in a clear effort to make him jealous (he wasn’t jealous, he wasn’t- ), and that he would bring him back a suitable souvenir. It was much like old times in a way, watching Lilia leave on an adventure to a foreign land that he yearned to be invited to as well.
When his oldest friend returned that Sunday night in colorful garb and handed him the gorgeous beaded drink coaster that he claimed Kingscholar himself had picked out for him, Malleus knew he just had to see him the next day.
~***~
There was something… strange in the air as Malleus traversed campus that day. Kingscholar had neglected to show up to the classes they shared that morning, but that was not unusual for his fellow prince. What was unusual were the whisperings he overheard from other Savanaclaw juniors about the stench of sickness that could be smelled from around their dorm, but also that none were able to figure out who the source was.
How curious.
Malleus left his fellow juniors to their murmured confusions and made his way over to the botanical gardens. It was Kingscholar’s favored napping spot, after all— the combination of warmth, humidity, and shade supposedly made for ideal napping conditions. He journeyed deep into the subtropical area of the botanical gardens, passing the Child of Man and their direbeast familiar with a genial wave.
“Hey Hornton!” the Child of Man called out to him. Malleus paused in his path and turned his attention to one of the other few people on campus who didn’t fear him. “Are you looking for Leona?”
As astute as always. Malleus smiled a little. “Have you seen him, Child of Man?”
They frowned as they stood up and took off their dirt-covered gloves. Ah, they were gardening for an assignment, undoubtedly. “Nope, not today. He’s not in his usual spot,”
Malleus’ smile dimmed. “Ah, how unfortunate. I shall be on my way then,”
“Oh- oh, okay, see ya later!”
Malleus turned on his heels and exited the botanical gardens just as quickly as he had entered, running through the mental list of Kingscholar Hiding Spots he had compiled over the past two years of being in school with him. The botanical gardens spot was the one he frequented the most, but weren’t Mondays also Spelldrive Club practice days? Perhaps the lion therian was hiding in the campus woods, where he would read and nap the morning away if he truly did not want to be present at practice. He knew the exact tree Kingscholar favored, having spent many an hour playing chess with him there back before his fellow prince started to act like he wanted nothing to do with him, and teleported there in a burst of magic.
Now shaded amidst the towering oaks, the tinge of disappointment that had hit him in the botanical gardens grew. Malleus stood upon the massive roots of his sun’s favorite tree and found it missing the lion therian who normally looked so at home nestled between them. The moss bedding was seemingly unaffected by the November chill but was devoid of any physical evidence Kingscholar had been there recently. Just to confirm, Malleus opened his mouth and flicked his forked tongue out to get a better read of the area’s scent profile. He could identify faint traces of the therian, but they were at least a week old.
Consarn it.
~***~
By the time it should’ve been his lunch period, Malleus had exhausted his list of Kingscholar Hiding Spots.
It was as fascinating as it was frustrating— Kingscholar keeps him on his toes once again. Not admitting defeat in his search but a touch famished, Malleus found his way to the cafeteria. To his fortune, it was mostly empty, with only a few students beginning to trickle in. As he approached the budding line, Malleus caught sight of a certain hyena therian who would undoubtedly lead him to his prize.
“Bucchi,” Malleus said as he strode towards them. Bucchi’s large spherical ears flicked towards him as his whole body jolted at the sound of his voice. He whirled around to face Malleus with wide eyes, his grip on his half-filled tote bag of sandwiches tightening.
“Hey uh-” Bucchi’s round eyes darted around before he cleared his throat. Next to him on the counter was a small pile of wrapped deli sandwiches. “Hey Malleus. What’s up?”
“You act as Kingscholar’s runner often enough,” Malleus stated as context for his request. Curiously, Bucchi’s ears flattened at the mention of his housewarden. “Do you know where he’s hiding today? I need to speak with him,”
“No clue,” Bucchi huffed, irritation clear in his features. “He was whinier than usual when I woke him up this morning and when I went to give him his second wake-up call, he was already gone. Wasn’t in any of his usual places before practice either,”
Not even his runner could find him? The notion troubled Malleus. Kingscholar truly didn’t wish to be found then. Should he send Sebek and Silver to scour campus for him? No, no, they were both in class…
“If it uh, if it helps-”
Malleus’ attention snapped back to Bucchi. The hyena therian was cowering slightly as he spoke, much to Malleus’ displeasure. Was this reaction because of his involvement in Kingscholar’s plan last month to trample him? Some of this displeasure slipped into his voice with a puff of smoke. “ Yes? ”
“Leona’s room smelled really weird,” Bucchi’s nose scrunched up as he recounted what he had observed. “I think he might be trying to hide something, especially if he’s not in any of his normal spots,”
Aah, now that was information he could work with. Malleus dispelled his displeasure towards the young therian like ash pulled into strong winds and let praise leak through instead. “I knew you would provide me with what I seek. Here,”
At a snap of his fingers, Malleus transported some nuggets of gold ore into Bucchi’s sandwich-laden bag. The hyena therian yelped at the sudden weight change, his tote bag sagging and some stitches connecting the handles with the larger structure snapping.
“Hey- what the-”
“A boon,” Malleus said simply as he turned away. “Thank you for your services, Bucchi,”
If the sophomore said anything else after that, Malleus didn’t hear him. What was more important than Bucchi’s words was the list of auxiliary spots Kingscholar would hide in with him during his freshman year at Night Raven, spots Bucchi wouldn’t be familiar with. It wasn’t a very long list to run through as he made his way through the halls of the main campus building, the desire to get lunch forgotten. Wherever Kingscholar was hiding would have to be somewhere no one currently attending school would think to look for him–
Malleus stopped in the middle of the hallway that held the club rooms, his head snapping up. There was a reasonably powerful spell wafting out from his club room, so heavy and thick in the air that he was shocked he hadn’t picked up on the traces sooner. He stood there for a moment, his forked tongue flickering out as he opened his mouth a little to get a better taste. The magic stank of illusion, adding an unnatural sterility to the air the closer he got to his club room door.
Perhaps he had been picking up on this magic trail’s existence the entire time? How foolish of him, to be so distracted by his own thoughts that he failed to recognize that Kingscholar had left him a path for him to follow this entire time. Malleus gripped the knob and yanked the door open, the spell hitting his nose and the roof of his mouth full-force as he did.
Aah.
There he was.
Malleus carefully stepped into his club room and teased the door closed once he was fully inside, his eyes never leaving where the subject of his search was curled up on the couch he keeps at the far side of the room, next to the windows that provided the easiest access to the gargoyles on this side of the building. One of the smaller panes with propped open, providing a cool November breeze that caressed the dark tresses of Kingcholar’s hair that were splayed across the pillow he was using. It seemed like he had remembered where Malleus kept blankets in his club room, several of the thicker ones burying him and half the couch.
The ache in his chest returned as it always did, dragon fire pulsing in his abdomen to feed on it.
Kingscholar didn’t stir as Malleus quietly approached, his pointed ears pricking up at the sound of his wheezing breaths. It became apparent why once Malleus had arrived at his side, leaning over to peer closer at where his fellow prince’s face was half-stuck out of the blankets. There was a deep flush to his sepia cheeks and nose, his long attractive lashes fluttering with each rough breath. The magical scent of sterility was strongest next to the lion therian, the heat of fever obvious as it radiated off him in waves. With a snap of his fingers, Malleus dispersed the illusion spell, the rank odor of sickness choking him the moment the spell was gone.
Aah, he saw now.
His beloved was sick and was very desperately trying to hide it. Most likely he was the source of the sickness-smell he had overheard the Savanaclaw juniors complaining about.
But why would he hide instead of sending Bucchi for the school nurse?
Malleus furrowed his brow and pulled one of his gloves off, gently resting the back of his hand against Kingscholar’s forehead. The skin there burned , like Malleus had stuck his hand into a jet of his own dragon fire.
How fascinating that a mortal could produce their own internal fire, despite it only being possible in the throes of illness.
He remembered the few times Silver had gotten sick like this when he was younger and how Lilia had fretted over him like the fever would kill him. According to the most recent human medical textbooks he’s read in the school library, mortals experience a sort of inflammatory response in the face of a bacterium or virus, their bodies quite literally attempting to burn the sickness out at the potential cost of their brains. Maybe illness to that degree was in fact deadly?
All the more reason for Kingscholar to have sought help instead of hiding away.
Malleus peered at the sick therian on his couch again. The poor soul was responding to Malleus’ hand on his forehead, hazy slivers of green peeking out between long black eyelashes at the same time a small groan left him.
“Mal?” Kingscholar croaked, his voice distinctly off like his nose was stuffed. That ache in Malleus’ chest worsened at the sound of the hypocorism. Singular years were nothing to him, yet it felt like it had been an eternity since the therian had called him that.
“Worry not, Leona,” his sun’s given name slipped out as easily as air from his lungs after withholding it for his sake for so long. Malleus brushed the back of his hand from Leona’s forehead and into his hair, the strands slick with sweat. “I will soothe you of your ailments,”
It was adorable, the way Leona leaned into his touch while attempting to bare his teeth in a defensive act of pride. “Don’ touch me, liz’rd breath, ”
“I must, if I am to carry you to a place where I can tend to your needs properly,” Malleus said, surprising himself. Yet the moment he registered his own words, his conviction to follow through on them solidified. After all, was it not a king’s duty to attend to the needs of his household and subjects? He already mentally considered Leona to fall under the purview of his household, with all that was left was making the matter official. This would be good practice for the future.
“ Don’t, ” Leona shifted beneath his blankets to snarl at him more directly, his sweat-drenched hair bristling. “‘M fine, just need ta sweat this out,”
Malleus reluctantly retracted his hand. He raised an eyebrow. “Sweat this out?”
“Unless you can cure th’ common cold, piss off ,” Leona hissed. He turned away from Malleus with a grunt and buried himself further into his borrowed mound of blankets with lethargic urgency.
Cure the common cold? Malleus hummed contemplatively as he leaned away from his fellow prince. Surely if the disease was so common yet still around, then it might truly be beyond the scope of average mages to solve. Should it be something he plans to tackle once he becomes king in Briar Valley?
“Why’re you-” a loud sneeze startled Malleus out of his thoughts. When he looked back down, he saw Leona was giving him one of his nastier glares, the kind that he had personally seen send Leona’s dorm members scurrying away on multiple occasions. “Why’re you still here , you airheaded gecko?”
“Well, you did decide to sequester yourself away in my club room,” Malleus pointed out with a little grin. He couldn’t deny how pleasant it felt knowing Leona had chosen a space that was distinctly his to hide away in. “I’ve been trying to find you all morning to thank you for your gift from your most recent trip to Sunset Savanna,”
Leona’s ears would’ve disappeared into his normally voluptuous hair if it weren’t so slicked with sweat. His fever-bright eyes narrowed. “I didn’t give you shit,”
Malleus frowned a little and pulled the beaded coaster out from his pocket. He held it out to show to Leona in all its lizard-motif glory. “Lilia said you had chosen it for me when he was searching for gifts to bring back,”
The lion therian said nothing for a moment, only the upper half of his features visible from above his blankets. Then he turned over with a sniffly huff and a grunt of pain. “Think whatever ya want, just leave ,”
Malleus pocketed his beaded coaster and chuckled. “Your audacity never ceases to amaze me,”
“I’m bein’ serious , Mal,” the therian prince growled. It was largely ineffectual, ending in a cough. “Just lemme ride this out alone and you can have your stupid club room back next week,”
He planned to be ill into the next week? Just how long did mortal diseases last in the body?
It felt distinctly wrong , the most minute suggestion of leaving his bright, scorching sun to suffer alone. His pride truly drove him to some foolish lengths at times.
Without a word, Malleus leaned down and shoved his arms beneath where he approximated Leona’s shoulders and knees to be located and lifted him and his blankets with ease. Leona’s roar of surprise was cut off by a violent shiver, the fierce noise dying into a pained moan. While it was somewhat cute to see the therian in his pathetic state, it was also concerning, unnerving even. He needed to figure out a way to relieve his symptoms and restore him to full fitness immediately.
“Where the-” Leona’s barbed voice was interrupted by another cough. “Where the fuck do you think you’re takin’ me-”
“To my dorm room,” Malleus replied assuredly. “I can aid you most there and ensure you are properly quarantined in case you’re contagious,”
He summoned the magic needed to teleport them both to his dorm room, green sparks flying around them like fireflies at night. Leona began to struggle in his arms, his blanketed limbs and tail thrashing.
“It ain’t some stupid virus ya can just catc- hey, hey put me down you idiotic-”
~***~
Thankfully, the only way Leona resisted once they had arrived in Malleus’ room was verbally, and even those barbs of his weakened as Malleus gently set him and his pile of blankets onto his bed, giving away into labored breathing and more violent shivering. The shift in his behavior was alarming, to say the least. For a moment, Malleus stood over him at his bedside and watched Leona struggle to stay conscious, the flush across his cheeks worsening.
What to do first? He thought back to how Lilia helped Silver through spells of sickness. Whenever the young boy had been feverish, Lilia had always put a damp cloth on his forehead, and it seemed to relax him. Was it for a cooling effect?
He could do a better job cooling Leona down than some moist cloth. Extending a single fingertip toward his beloved, Malleus murmured a minor cooling spell over him, combining it with a drowsy spell that would push the therian over the edge into the safety of slumber. The way Leona’s body relaxed was immediate, shifting slightly onto his side and curling up like a kitten before sinking into unconsciousness. Under his fingertip, Leona’s skin cooled enough to where it wasn’t radiating the same heat as before, alleviating him of the immediate concern.
Malleus stood back with an assured nod, already feeling better about his course of action. Next on his path to Leona’s recovery from this common cold was to consult Lilia on whether he knew any solutions the mortal population had not heard of yet. If he could not be of assistance, then the college library, or sending a message to the Briar Valley royal librarian for book recommendations.
Before he could make a move toward Lilia’s room, a quick knock rapped on his door.
“Malleus? Are you in there?”
What a blessing of the night his guardian was. “Come in, Lilia,”
Lilia’s big crimson eyes and pink highlights poked in with a creak of his dorm room door and a grin. “There you are! I noticed you weren’t in- oh?”
The old bat fae opened the door up more, blinking in overt surprise. “What do we have here? A mangy kitten seems to be sleeping in my prince’s bed,”
“Lilia, please, ” Malleus huffed. His guardian laughed as he approached, giving him space to explain. “I found him in my club room. He seems to have developed a fever and several other illness symptoms,”
“Did he now?” Lilia’s lofty tone sank into something more befitting of the situation. The shorter fae peered at the therian prince’s face and pressed the back of his hand against the cheek Leona’s scar cut into. “Oh dear, the fact that he’s still that warm after your cooling spell is worrying,”
“Yes, exactly,” Malleus joined him at Leona’s bedside and smoothed some sweaty strands away from his peaceful face. Someday he hoped to wake up to that face every morning, though preferably healthy and his normal cantankerous self. “He mentioned something about the common cold?”
To that, Lilia chuckled. “This seems more severe than the common cold, Malleu- oh don’t look at me like that,”
Was his alarm showing on his face? Malleus schooled his expression, transferring his nervous energy to fiddling with the hem of his blazer. “What do you think it is then?”
“Hmm, well, I’m not quite sure,” Lilia shifted his weight onto one leg and planted his hands on his hips, his crimson eyes narrowing at the prince asleep in Malleus’ bed. “He didn’t seem sick this past weekend in Sunset Savanna… I wonder if he over-exerted himself while winning that last brawl,”
“Over-exerted himself?”
“Well yes, his body has been through a lot lately,” Lilia said confidently. “It’s only been, what, two weeks since he overblotted at the interdorm tournament? Between that, Halloween, and the Cloudcalling festival, I would be willing to gamble that our grumpy kitten here hasn’t gotten as much rest as he’s needed to recover properly,”
When Lilia put the situation into that framing, it all became infinitely more clear to Malleus. Foolish of him to assume this affliction was separate from his overblot. When he looked back at Leona’s sleeping face he could truly see the utter exhaustion that lined the therian’s face, his pretty cheekbones slightly more prominent than before and the dark spots tugging at his lower eyelids. Malleus couldn’t help but chide himself more at the revelation. All these weeks, all this past year he had been giving Leona his space, and now his future betrothed was bedridden from over-exerting himself after an overblot that was in part due to the therian’s issues with him .
Truly, how foolish of him to have neglected Leona like he has.
Malleus leaned down until his lips were mere centimeters from Leona’s lightly sweating forehead, keenly aware of Lilia’s presence. Would it be too bold of him to press a kiss there in the company of others? Instead, he whispered low enough that he hoped Lilia would pretend not to hear. “I swear this to you, I will never neglect you as I have again,”
Something shifted in the air. Malleus ignored it in favor of turning to his guardian with a determined grimace. Now that he’d promised such care to Leona, he needed to act upon it. “What are the balms for over-exertion, both physical and magical?”
“Bed rest, mostly,” Lilia frowned contemplatively, tapping his chin with his pointer finger. “Warm foods that won’t upset his stomach like simple soups, keeping him cool if he’s too hot or warm if he’s too cold, keeping him hydrated… I know these all seem too simple, but sometimes simple is the best way forward,”
“I see…”
Lilia was right in that it all seemed too simple, but at the same time, this meant that Malleus had an excuse to devote his full time and energy to Leona’s recovery. He would have his beloved back to full health long before the time it would’ve taken him to sweat it out .
“If you’d like, I could make that soup recipe I would make for Silver whenever he was sick, he always puked up whatever was making him ill after just a few spoonfuls-”
“Absolutely not ,” Malleus rounded on his guardian before he could finish his well-intentioned offer, his answer a snap as a spark of panic seized him. “I think I will ask Sebek for soup suggestions. Is he in class still?”
~***~
“My Lord, please allow me to carry the soup for you!”
“Sebek, as I’ve said, it’s alright-” Malleus tried not to sigh as he and his half-fae knight approached his dorm door. Safely in his hands was the vat of chicken noodle soup he had Sebek walk him through making. The young lad had vehemently vouched for this specific soup’s healing properties for mortals, and Malleus had no reason to doubt him. Apparently, the recipe was one Sebek’s father had brought over from his homeland in the Queendom. Mr. Zigvolt was an odd but trustworthy human, worthy of Sebek’s mother’s companionship, so Malleus had every reason to be confident in this soup’s ability to heal Leona of his illness.
Malleus stopped short of his dorm door, watching Sebek frantically skirt around him to reach for the door handle.
“At least allow me to open the door for you, sir!”
“I will permit this, Sebek, thank you,”
Upon stepping into his room, the scent of Leona’s ongoing sickness hit the roof of his mouth again, but this time it was more stale than before. The ambient temperature of the room seemed to have dropped in the time it had taken him and Sebek to procure ingredients, find a distraction for Lilia, and make the soup. Next to him, Sebek visibly shivered.
“Ah- ah, my Liege, hah- how thoughtful of you to chuh- chill the room for that- that miscreant’s sake-”
“Address Kingscholar properly , Sebek,”
Chilling the room had not been his intention when he had cast that cooling spell over Leona. Frowning, Malleus strode towards his bed and handed the vat of soup off to Sebek, his young knight squawking to handle the still-bubbling mixture. He removed one of his gloves and pressed the back of his hand to Leona’s exposed, shivering forehead. To his concern, it was cold.
Too cold.
Had he overdone the spell? The briefest spike of panic seized him. Like an excess of heat, an excess of cold was deadly to mortals. What if he had somehow further contributed to Leona’s lack of overblot recovery? Malleus mumbled the reversal spell before he could let himself dwell on the matter further, layering the spell with a wake-up spell to rouse Leona enough to consume his soup.
“Aah, thank you, my Lord,” Sebek sighed with relief as the temperature in the room quickly warmed.
To Malleus’ own relief, Leona’s shivering slowed, his features once again relaxing. A minute groan slipped from between his lips as his body shifted beneath the blankets. The flush of his cheeks remained, however, and his body was still cold to the touch.
“Sebek, grab a tray table,” Malleus instructed as he relieved the freshman of the soup. Sebek saluted and scurried away.
“Wha’sth hap’in,” Leona slurred quietly. Malleus turned to his beloved with a wry smile.
“It appears that in my efforts to cool your fever down, I made you nearly hypothermic,”
Leona’s dark eyebrows furrowed, his clouded green eyes giving him a withering glare.
“Yur so fu’kin usth-less,” the sick therian grumbled. “Sthu-pid liz’rd brains,”
In the throes of sickness and hypothermia, he still had the wherewithal to insult him. Malleus felt the ache in his chest throb violently and couldn’t repress his wry smile widening.
“Worry not, I have made you chicken noodle soup. I have been assured this will cure your ails,”
“I have returned my Lord!”
Malleus heard Sebek’s shouted announcement at the same time he saw Leona’s ears flatten, his hazy eyes scrunching shut. “Sebek, lower your volume,”
“My- my apologies!” Sebek supplicated as he set up the tray table, his head low and his voice just a fraction lower. He backed away swiftly as Malleus set the soup vat on the table he provided and removed the lid, giving the mixture a spin with the ladle. “Is there anything else you need assistance with, my Lord?”
“No, that is all, Sebek,” Malleus said in a dismissive tone. “You may return to your studies,”
“Thank you sir!” Sebek exclaimed in his normal tone of voice. In the corner of Malleus’ eye, Leona flinched, scowling. “I will continue to endeavor to make myself worthy of being your knight!”
He shut the door with a SLAM , making the chandelier rattle. Malleus glanced at the door for a moment before waggling a finger at it to spell the lock shut. When he returned his attention to his sun, he found that Leona was struggling to sit up, his nose twitching as the soup’s aroma wafted into the air.
This chicken noodle soup must truly be a powerful elixir if its smell alone is enough to revitalize the sick.
“I hope you will find this appetizing,” Malleus said to Leona as he leaned forward to help him sit up. Thankfully, Leona only growled at his assistance but otherwise didn’t protest when Malleus stuck several pillows behind his back to further support him. “I made it myself, with Sebek’s supervision,”
He lifted a ladle full of soup and brought it up to Leona’s mouth, undeterred by the fire that burned behind his eyes, the color of the moss that grew in the forest Lilia and Silver lived in. When the edge of the ladle brushed Leona’s plush bottom lip, the therian gave him one last glare before sticking his tongue out to lap at the broth. He recoiled the second the tip of his tongue made contact.
“Isth hot ,” his ill beloved complained.
Malleus smiled. “To heat your body and drive the sickness away,”
“K’ngs, yer asth at this,” Leona slurred grumpily. Weakly, he blew on the broth before attempting to drink it again. He was more successful this time around, much to Malleus’ pleasure, downing the entire ladle of broth, carrots, and the stray noodle. Malleus lowered the ladle from his face and watched Leona process the taste, blinking slowly.
His dull pupils dilated as he looked at Malleus a few seconds later. “Mor’,”
Something searingly pleasant bubbled up from Malleus’ gut and into his chest at the therian prince’s reaction.
“Of course my dear,” Malleus replied silkily. He didn’t miss the way the flush of Leona’s cheeks darkened as he turned away to ladle him more soup. “This whole vat is for you. You may eat as much as you want,”
“No more,” Leona mumbled after consuming half the vat of chicken noodle soup, turning his head away. “‘M full,”
“I see,” already Malleus could see strength and color returning to his beloved in reaction to the soup, but the haze remained, along with the wheezing breaths. At least the brush of hypothermia seemed to have taken care of his fever, for now. “How would you like me to warm you up then, if not soup?”
For a moment, Malleus’ room was silent, only Leona’s panting breaths undercutting it.
“Run me a hot bath,” Leona requested slowly, his words not slurring together as much as before. A further sign of his strength returning, blessed night. “Since you’re so keen on gettin’ in my business,”
A bath…? Malleus drew his gaze away from Leona and towards the en suite bathroom attached to his dorm room. The bath in there was rather small compared to the one back in Blackscale Castle, but it should fit them both, he supposed. Malleus turned back to Leona and found that the therian was staring at him with an expression he couldn’t put a word to.
Mm, well, if a bath was what his future betrothed demanded, then a bath he would have.
~***~
“What’re you- no, this is not what I meant when I asked for a bath,” Leona snarled from the stone edge of the bath, glowering at him behind the rising steam. Malleus paused mid-strip to meet his beloved’s glower with an arched eyebrow.
“What else could you have meant if not this?”
“I meant a bath for me and me alone ,”
Malleus huffed. Did he not see the advantages of bathing together? “You are expecting me to let you bathe in your state without assistance?”
“‘M not a cub , I can bathe myself still,” Leona snapped back.
“Yet you could hardly move earlier?”
“Yeah, because some half-wit water monitor tried to give me hypothermia ,”
“It was an accident ,” Malleus shot back stubbornly. He finished shucking his clothes and stepped into the steaming bathwater opposite of Leona, the water just barely rising mid-thigh before he sat down. In this rather diminutive bath, the water only reached mid-sternum whenever he sat down. His bath at home was large enough for him to swim comfortably with his shoulders covered if he so desired, deep enough in the center that if he stood there, the water would almost completely cover his head. It was a shame he couldn’t nurse Leona back to health in Briar Valley instead of at school— surely he could do more for him at home.
…
Perhaps he could bring him ho–
“Whatever stupid thought is running through that empty head of yours, shut it down ,” Leona hissed from across the bath. Malleus jolted at the sound of his voice and frowned.
“It was a fairly decent idea-”
“Yeah?” Leona leaned back against the basalt rim of the bath, the steam and warmth of the water breathing more life back into his sepia skin. Malleus couldn’t help but watch small beads of sweat and water trickle down from the therian’s neck, catching on his collarbones before joining where the bathwater covered his ample pectorals. “What was the idea? You spiritin’ me away to the overgrown valley you call home for some extra-special fae overblot recovery? You think your grandma or that stuffy senate of yours is gonna be okay with that?”
Well now that he uttered it out into the world, it did sound a tad foolish. Malleus huffed and sank further into the water until it was up to his nose. He could feel one of Leona’s legs with his feet in that position, but Leona didn’t seem to acknowledge it. Instead, he scoffed and slid down into the water himself, leaning his head back and wetting his hair.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,”
Malleus watched Leona’s hair float around his head for a moment before lifting his chin above the waterline. “So that truly is what you’re sick with? Improper overblot recovery?”
Leona didn’t respond immediately. When he finally did, his voice was quieter, more subdued in a way that rubbed Malleus wrong. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. From what I’ve had the time to read about it, I’ve needed to be takin’ it slow for at least a few weeks, and everythin’ that’s been going on hasn’t really… let me,”
For a moment, Malleus felt thrown back to his first year at Night Raven College by the sheer candid cadence of Leona’s voice, however ill-fitting his sullen tone was for his person. He was supposed to be a bright blazing sun, bringing light and companionship to Malleus’ lonely life, not be as entrenched in the shadows as he was. Not that he wasn’t fully aware of the shadows that followed his beloved around, massive proverbial weights that weighed the therian down and layered doubt into every confidence he exhibited. “Can you not ask for some sort of leave?”
Leona barked a laugh. “Hah! Not even I can get out of those inane Halloween preparations, and that feathery codger really set a fire under my ass gettin’ me to perform the stupid Cloudcalling this year. You saw how shitty Halloween week was with those Magicam Monsters too. Ain’t no way I could’ve gotten any decent rest the past few weeks with all that bullshit,”
Malleus frowned. He could relate to that, the inescapable nature of one’s duties. The Magicam Monsters had been awful as well, almost ruining Halloween. Still, a single, poignant question nagged at the back of his mind.
“Why did you not seek out help after the interdorm tournament to receive further care in between these events then?” Malleus voiced the question, almost hesitating as Leona’s head leaned forward out of the water, his copious amounts of hair dripping across his shoulders. It was an appealing look for him, seeing his hair slicked back. It made the scar that crossed his left eye stand out more, the unconcealed scar tissue several shades lighter than the rest of Leona’s skin. The therian’s ears folded back against his drenched hair at the question, his gaze firmly fixed off to his right side.
“Nurse told me to rest and I did my best to,” Leona shrugged half-heartedly. “Didn’t see a point in goin’ back to him when he was just gonna get onto me for bein’ forced to be involved in shit,”
“Did your chamberlain not notice something was wrong when you visited your home country this past weekend?” Malleus tried. He was well aware Leona’s relationship with his country and people wasn’t as positive as his own, but even when Leona confided in him more often during his first year at Night Raven College it was like pulling scales to get him to talk in-depth about anything outside of how much his family frustrated him.
At that, Leona clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. “I’m sure Kifaji noticed something was off, but he didn’t say nothin’ about it. Bet he figured I’d be fine or he wanted to avoid spurring my brother into siccing those superstitious old farts on my ass for so much as a sneeze,”
Superstitious old farts? Malleus wanted to ask more, but a yawn from Leona interrupted his line of thought.
“Oi, you gonna come over here and wash my hair or what?” he asked haughtily once the yawn had passed.
Malleus blinked. “What?”
“You wanted to help me bathe,” all of the ironic sincerity within Leona’s voice was fully walled up behind the snarky veneer he favored again. There was a slight hesitance in the way Leona shifted until his back was facing Malleus, his drenched hair all pushed behind his shoulders and dripping water down the skin of his exposed back. The therian stood up out of the water a little more, the steaming bathwater lapping at the beginning hints of his small waist. “I’m at your mercy, gecko breath ,”
Malleus swallowed thickly, dragon fire bubbling up his throat as pure want seized him. For a moment he couldn’t move as he furiously tampered down the utter need that threatened to spread like wildfire through his blood, smoke billowing out of his clamped mouth and nose.
Focus, he needed to focus . He had pledged to help Leona through this bout of illness, and on the honor of his family lineage, he would follow through with it.
“If you insist,” Malleus finally replied, pouring smooth confidence into his voice as he swept up the hair care he had perched at the edge of the bath and shuffled through the water towards Leona. Once he was inches from Leona’s back, Malleus leaned forward to place the bottles of shampoo and conditioner on the edge, careful to not press his chest against Leona’s back. His chin hovered over the therian’s left shoulder, passing by the eye Malleus knew didn’t work as well as Leona cared to admit. Despite being in his space, Leona didn’t move, his breathing not as labored as before but still quick, wary. Malleus leaned back with just the shampoo bottle in hand and carefully teased some of Leona’s hair between his fingers, his knuckles brushing against the back of Leona’s neck.
A visible shiver ran up Leona’s spine, the small hairs on his lower back that trailed down to the base of his tail rising. Malleus exhaled forcefully, it coming out as a chuckle as he retracted his hand and uncorked the shampoo bottle, pouring out some of its contents into his hand.
“Oi, stop laughin’ at me and get shampooin’,”
“Worry not, I’m lathering up now,”
Once he put the shampoo bottle back, Malleus thoroughly lathered up both of his hands before sinking them into the thick of Leona’s hair, dragging his fingers up from the base of his skull and fanning out around his fuzzy ears. He wasn’t sure what surprised him more at that moment— the way Leona seemed to crumple under his ministrations or the low rumbling growl that passed through Leona’s lips. Malleus tried to adapt the best he could as he continued to work the shampoo into Leona’s hair, pressing into his back to keep him upright as Leona fell backward into him. The rumbling sound only increased the more Malleus lathered up his hair and raked his nails across his scalp, the lion therian slowly twisting in his grip to press his face into Malleus’ collarbone. By the time he had finished, Leona was fully chest-to-chest with him, his ears loosely folded back and his eyes fluttered closed. Malleus slowly lowered his hands back into the bathwater to rinse the bubbles away and noticed a change in the rumbling that was coming from his beloved.
It wasn’t the growl-like purr he had started with, but the rumble of snoring.
Leona had fallen asleep in the bath with him, standing up .
His beloved never ceased to enthrall him.
~***~
Perhaps in true lion fashion, Leona remained asleep for the rest of the day. Malleus couldn’t help but feel pleased that the combination of the chicken noodle soup and the hot bath worked, Leona’s breathing completely normal once he had finished drying him off and the sickly flush long gone from his cheeks as he resettled him on his bed, dressed in one of Malleus’ silk bathrobes. Despite his earlier blunder of nearly giving the therian hypothermia, he had successfully cured the illness caused by improper overblot recovery. By the time Leona woke up tomorrow, he would be completely healthy, and Malleus would have succeeded in his pledge not only as a future king, but as a future husband. All that was left to do later that night was to wash the sickness from Leona’s clothes and the blankets he borrowed and everything would be set right.
After tucking him in, Malleus set to work on some schoolwork he knew would be due in the coming weeks before finals, carefully setting up on his bed next to Leona to better watch over him until it was past nightfall. Only twice were they disturbed— once by Lilia, who did little more than peek in, grin, and then disappear, and the other by Silver, who had graciously come by to deliver dinner. By the time Silver had come around, Malleus had long finished his schoolwork and was working through a fiction novel the Child of Man had recommended him during their latest midnight walk. It was a novel very similar to one they liked to read back on their homeworld about a woman of lower social status becoming both the ire and desire of a minor lord. He enjoyed the bickering the protagonist and her aloof love interest engaged in. It felt familiar in a sense.
Familiar and fun to read. Malleus couldn’t help but become absorbed by the struggles Ms. Elisabet had as she went about her life dealing with her older sister’s love life, her best friend marrying her unnerving cousin, and the thoughtful and intriguing Mr. Marcy, whom she had already rejected but was still clearly deeply in love with. Given the page count, he knew there was still time for Miss Elisabet to reconsider Mr. Marcy’s admittedly ill-performed marriage proposal before the novel’s conclusion. He had to know if they would get together despite their repeated clashes of ego and pride, all of the miscommunications and bad blood garnered between them–
“They get married at the end,”
Malleus paused, a page trapped between his fingers as he meant to turn it. The only source of light he had on in his room at that moment was the candle whose light he was reading by, making the way Leona’s eyes gleamed in the darkness of the rest of his room as alluring as it was jarring. He had flipped himself onto his side under the covers, propping up his head with his elbow and smirking a little. A swelling of annoyance battled against the sudden spike of excitement in Malleus’ gut as he processed that Leona had just spoiled the ending of his book.
“What?”
“Elisabet and Marcy get married in the end,” Leona explained with a tongue-curling yawn, candlelight glinting off his sharp fangs. “It’s sappy as shit, a double marriage between them and Elisabet’s older sister and her guy,”
A double marriage? That sounded odd. Malleus frowned and placed his bookmark before snapping the book shut. “And how do you know this?”
“Because my sister-in-law made me read it,” the lion therian relaxed back onto his pillow with his arms supporting his head. “Neema’s really into the classics and Falena’s never been a big reader, so she pushed her cravin’ for a book club onto me,”
Malleus raised an eyebrow. “And you didn’t refuse?”
An amusing flush darkened Leona’s cheeks as he finally broke eye contact. “She’s got good taste in fiction,”
Malleus chuckled. “I see,”
“I smell that magicless herbivore on that book,” Leona’s nose twitched as he stared up at the canopy of Malleus’ bed. “They lend you it?”
“Yes, and I’m finding myself quite enjoying it,” Malleus gently set the book down on his nightstand and glanced at the grandfather clock at the far side of his room. It was nearly midnight. The perfect time to do laundry. “How are you feeling?”
“Eh, better than earlier today,”
“Good,” Malleus slid off his bed and moved towards where he had bundled up Leona’s clothes and the blankets into his laundry basket. “Are you well enough to accompany me to the laundry room?”
Leona flopped over onto his stomach and glared at him. “And what makes you think I’d even wanna join you in the laundry room?”
“Because otherwise, you would be walking back to Savanaclaw alone in my robe at midnight?” Malleus smirked. “That or warming my bed for me like a good kitten,”
Leona’s ears flattened as he scowled. “You think you’re so funny, huh,”
“T’was a small jest, yes,” Malleus’ smirk widened into a cheeky grin. “Your choice, my dear,”
“Ugh, don’t call me that,” Leona scoffed as he slowly slid out from under Malleus’ covers. Malleus stood a few feet away with the laundry basket tucked between his arm and hip, reaching one arm out toward Leona as he wobbled over to Malleus’ walnut wood dresser and yanked open one of the bottom drawers.
“You’re not at full strength yet,” Malleus noted with a frown.
“As anyone with eyes can see, ya airhead,” Leona rolled his eyes and tugged on the first pair of sweatpants he touched, leaning on the dresser for support. Malleus tried not to react to the fact that he had grabbed the gaudiest pair of sweatpants he owned, an incredibly comfortable bright pink set that Silver had gifted him at Lilia’s goading for his 170th birthday. “Where’re your slippers?”
At the snap of Malleus’ fingers, the fluffy slippers Lilia had gotten Malleus from his last trip to the Shaftlands appeared on Leona’s feet, a dark green plaid pattern lined with mink on the inside. Leona observed them for a moment before sighing and shuffling toward Malleus.
“Let’s get goin’,”
To Malleus’ overt joy, Leona only hesitated a few seconds before grabbing onto his offered arm, threading his arm through the space between his elbow and chest and clutching it with both warm hands. They departed from his dorm room as quietly as they could manage, Leona’s footsteps still cat-like in their silence despite the lack of strength. Malleus glided along with him, shortening his stride enough to match his. Neither of them spoke as they made their way down the many long halls and spiraling staircases it took to get from Malleus’ dorm room to where the laundry rooms were in the basement. Malleus relished the companionable silence, the roaring ache in his chest momentarily, blessedly contented by the sensation of Leona’s body clinging to his. He gave the therian the occasional sideward glance to gauge his thoughts, but his fellow prince’s face was a wall, his trimmed eyebrows furrowed and his biteable lips in a frown.
“Why didn’t you just teleport us here instead of havin’ us walk the entire length of your dorm?” Leona huffed when they arrived at the laundry room, Malleus courteously opening the door for him. He flipped the bright lights on as he followed the therian in, the sterile white of the modern laundry room a stark contrast to the way the dorm resembled Blackscale Castle.
“I enjoy the walk,” Malleus responded genially. “It helps me connect to my fellow dorm members,”
Leona snorted and plopped himself down on one of the rickety plastic chairs, the LED lights making the silk robe he was wearing shimmer with each movement. Malleus could feel his felid eyes on him as he moved to load the clothes and blankets into the washing machine that worked the best. Not that the rest of the washing machines didn’t function normally— the one at the far left end of the room just cooperated with him the most often.
The tune of an old lullaby he knew rose in his throat as he went about his laundry routine, retrieving his favored detergent and fabric softener. This was pleasant, nice even, being around Leona so casually again after a year’s worth of one-sided animosity. It further contented him knowing that Leona’s sleeping clothes would smell like him, even if for a short time. Maybe come the new semester he would revive his courtship of Leona in earnest. He at least seemed amenable to it now, though getting him to admit it would be a different obstacle…
“What do you know about Savannan folklore about evil?”
“Oho?” Malleus pressed start on the washing machine before turning to face Leona, holding his chin in thought. Admittedly, he didn’t know much. For all his interest in Leona, he still hadn’t gotten around to truly delving into every aspect of his country’s past, mainly focusing on their foreign policy and environmental conservation laws so he could figure out how to appeal to his grandmother that their union would be advantageous to Briar Valley. There was still the matter of ensuring his line continued, but he could figure out how to make an egg from the two of them somehow – “Not much, unfortunately. Care to enlighten?”
“Long ago, supposedly there was a member of the royal family that went mad for power and succeeded in killin’ his older brother, the king at the time,” Leona’s cadence was solemn again, though there was an edge of irony that kept Malleus’ eyes on him as he spoke. “He took the crown and yada yada yada, the important thing is that he utterly ruined the land while he was in power, and long after his reign, it became engrained in the minds of my countryfolk that anythin’ associated with him was some sort of evil curse that spelled doom for the royal family, and therefore the country,”
Malleus frowned. He didn’t particularly like where this story was going.
“The ruinous king’s most definin’ trait was a long scar that crossed through his left eye,” Leona’s voice weakened as he traced his own scar, matching his description of the old king’s, his verdant eyes dull and staring at the wall of washing machines absently. “People call it the Evil Eye , and it applies to any sort of scarring around the eyes, but marks like mine are the most evil apparently,”
Malleus tried to grasp where Leona was going with the sudden folklore lesson, his eyes narrowing in thought. It wouldn’t be the first time Leona had alluded to his countrymen thinking of him negatively, but evil?
“Anyways,” Leona huffed, annoyance seeping into his voice. “The quacks that call themselves royal doctors have been obsessed with my scar since I got it because they wanna rid the royal family of the evilness me bein’ marked like this brings to my brother’s reign. Falena thinks they mean well, but I swear those fuckers get rabid whenever I get sick, gives ‘em an excuse to interact with me an’ try to remove the evil from me. 'S why... why I always hide when I'm sick, just kinda became instinct at this point. Stupid, right?”
Malleus stared at Leona, letting his words burrow into his heart like a worm burrows into the dirt.
How…
How dare those imbeciles think of his beloved like that, treat him like that?
Dragon fire raged in the depths of his gut and swarmed up his throat, the taste of fire and smoke acrid on his tongue.
Oh how he would love to make them pay, to make them squeal out pitiful apologies as he rained lightning down upon them at Leona’s behest. Once his and Leona’s union was secured, he would guarantee that this Evil Eye nonsense would be dispelled from the hearts and minds of the people. They would come to appreciate Leona for the thoughtful and forward-thinking ruler he was capable of being, if only the shadows that clung to him could be dismissed.
Yes.
Fire licked at his lips as some escaped from his snarling grin.
Yes, that would be one of his first courses of action after the wedding.
“ Tch , this is why I stopped tellin’ you shit,” Leona sighed in a long-suffering manner, looking at the puffs of smoke and fire with open disdain. “You always overreact,”
“I think my reaction is warranted,” Malleus argued, swallowing his anger back. His dragon fire settled uncomfortably in his chest, the itch to get revenge for the lifelong slight against his future betrothed gone unsatiated. “And as I might point out, you stopped talking to me in general all of this past year, except to trade insults in the hallways,”
Leona rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky I was even doin’ that after what you did to me and mine,”
“All I had done was perform in Spelldrive as you had taught me to,” Malleus shot back, dragon fire rumbling in his chest again. “Instead of praising me for having followed your lessons well, you scorned me and treated me like I was an obstacle to be defeated instead of the companions we had been prior,”
Was he mad about this? It had never quite occurred to him to examine what he had been feeling about the situation, only having dealt with it as it came and being so concerned with Leona’s sudden hostility that his own emotions must’ve fallen to the wayside.
“Yeah, well you were the one to completely ruin the scoutin’ opportunities for my entire junior year last year!” Leona snarled back, rising to his slippered feet. Despite his weakened state, he was still able to fearlessly approach Malleus with fire of his own, his moss-green eyes blazing and his leonine fangs bared. “You ruined the one good thing I was still capable of doin’ for anyone all because you decided on a whim you wanted to play in the interdorms!”
One good thing he was capable of doing?
Malleus gritted his teeth, smoke slipping out from between his clenched fangs as he tried to reign back in the sudden swell of emotions. “I only wanted to play because the sport was- is important to you ,”
Leona looked as if he were going to snap back but stopped at the last second, his mouth hanging half-open and his black pupils wide. His wheezing breaths were back, but they sounded different, layered with tense emotion and not the rasp of sickness. Malleus maintained the silence Leona had started, registering how his own chest heaved and the words spoken swirling around in his head. With some irony, he felt almost as if they were Miss Elisabet and Mr. Marcy, bickering over misinterpreted intentions and botched attempts of reconciliation.
How fortunate then that Leona had told him their relationship worked out in the end.
For several eternal moments, the only sound in the laundry room was that of the washing machine running, its whirling mingling with the sensation of his and Leona’s breaths mingling with the smoke dissipating into the ventilated air. Malleus stared into Leona’s verdant eyes, feeling pulled into the dark depths of his blown pupils, the fire behind them luring him forward. He hadn’t realized he was reaching towards the therian until he felt his hands grip Leona’s hips and step closer, searching his expression for any sign of rejection. His beloved still looked stunned by Malleus’ last words, but his gaze kept darting to Malleus’ lips, his throat, and then back up into his eyes, inching upward as Malleus leaned in.
They were alone in the laundry room at a time of night when no one would walk in on them.
With this knowledge cemented in Malleus’ mind, he bridged the gap he needed to cross to truly reach Leona for the first time.
Leona’s lips were as soft as they looked, firm and welcoming as they were a challenge, matching Malleus’ pace blow for blow and pushing back with as much might as Leona could muster. Admittedly Malleus had never kissed anyone before this, but surely he must be doing well, based on the little noises coming out of Leona’s mouth every time he ran his forked tongue along the seam of his lips. He held him as close as he could, turning and pressing Leona into the nearest washing machine as he finally gained entrance into his mouth, dancing their tongues together before lapping at the back of his throat, their fangs clanging together. Malleus growled playfully when Leona leaned back enough to sink his teeth into his bottom lip, the pain and the resulting blood that dripped onto his tongue producing a rush like he had eaten a hundred cartons of ice cream all at once. He broke away from Leona’s biting teases to press kisses along his vibrating throat, soaking up the heat of his pulse jumping centimeters from his teeth.
“St- stop, stop-”
Despite his desperate need to devour him, Malleus paused. He took a deep breath and leaned back, taking in Leona’s state— back bent over a washing machine, blood smeared across his mouth and his chest heaving, his pupils so wide the green clung like the barest bits of moss to a decaying log. Belatedly, he registered that Leona was clinging to him with his claws dug into his shoulders.
“Too-” Leona heaved, his ears pinned back. He closed his eyes, cutting Malleus off from the depths of his soul for a singular moment. “Too much right now. Too fast,”
Right. Just earlier today, the therian had been bedridden and feverish. Taking it slow was probably the best course of action.
Malleus loosened his grip on Leona’s hips enough for him to relax. “My apologies,”
Leona scoffed and folded his arms over his chest, the release of his claws from Malleus’ shoulders making the skin there hiss in protest. He looked adorable, all ruffled and marked with blood in Malleus’ bathrobe. “You could stand to apologize for literally anythin’ other than that,”
Hm, this was true, but not entirely fair. Malleus frowned. “So could you,”
Leona stared up at him for a few seconds before sighing. “Fine, fair enough. I’m tired now though, so maybe I’ll think about apologizin’ tomorrow morning,”
Malleus chuckled. “Oh? Is that so,”
“Yeah, all this arguin’ and the bright lights are taking all my energy, so I’m gonna need you to take me back to your room so I can pass the fuck out,”
“Hm, I think I would only share my bed with someone who would apologize for hurting my feelings,” Malleus mused cheekily. He briefly glanced at the washing machine he was using to check the time. “Though I suppose I can make an exception this time,”
“You better, ” Leona growled. Despite his verbal posturing, he seemed comfortable in Malleus’ grasp. “And I expect to be carried there too,”
Malleus felt like his heart was singing. “This can be arranged,”
~***~
Malleus woke slowly the next morning, his alarm clock on its fourth round of chiming when he blearily glanced over at it. As he sat up he recognized that the curtains he normally kept open were all drawn closed, something he only dimly remembered doing last night at Leona’s request. Something about sleeping in near-total darkness helping him fall asleep faster? It might’ve also just been a jest on his part, one little prank to throw off his sleeping schedule in retribution for kissing him.
There was warmth missing from his bed that he distinctly remembered falling asleep with. Malleus turned to his left and saw that Leona’s side was achingly empty. He tried not to despair immediately, disappointment nipping his heels as he slid out from under the covers and rounded his bed to better examine how the therian left his side. Malleus threw the covers back and found nothing, the only trace of Leona having been there being the faint impression of his body in the fitted sheet and a few of his hairs on the pillowcase.
Slowly, Malleus made his way over to where he had folded and stacked Leona’s clothes and his club room blankets. To his further disappointment Leona’s clothes were missing, replaced by a haphazard pile of the clothes he had borrowed last night.
Had he hoped for too much?
His mood soured, Malleus went back to his bedside, swiping up his book from his nightstand as he made to flop back into bed. He could at least retreat to the perfect world of fiction to soothe his ailing heart.
Something fluttered in the corner of his eye. Malleus whirled around with a finger raised, pausing the object midair. He sat down on his bed and beckoned the object forward, a single folded sheet of paper. Had it fallen out of his book? He unfolded it carefully, Leona’s fast cursive gracing his eyes.
Hey lizard–
Thanks. If you want an apology from me though, you need to beat me in chess first. I’ll maybe consider it if you do. You better not’ve gotten rusty.
– LK
Malleus read the letter over again, all of the disappointment boiling in his abdomen immediately burning up from sheer glee. He refolded the letter and tucked it back into his book before getting up and starting his morning routine. Odds are, Leona would be skipping class, and now that he was feeling better, he would hopefully be waiting for him in one of his normal spots with his favorite chessboard.
Once he’s figured out how to beat Leona at chess, the wedding would be on.