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“You look like a schoolgirl, laying on your stomach like that.”
“It helps me think.”
Ruggie rolled his eyes, walking into the lounge with a laundry basket in hand while Jack was sprawled out on the floor, laptop open and various assignments scattered around him. “Isn’t there science behind that? That you’re less focused when you’re laying down?”
“For humans, maybe. I’m focusing just fine like this.” Jack looked up. “What are you doing?”
“Laundry.” Ruggie folded a pair of pants over his arm. “Mine and Leona’s.”
“King of Beasts, you’re like his housewife.” Jack scowled.
Ruggie threw a balled-up sock at him. “We don’t have housewives in Sunset Savannah, only househusbands.”
Almost on cue, Ruggie noticed out of the corner of his eyes a small ball of fuzz zooming across the room only to jump onto Jack’s tail which was wagging in the air.
“HWATTHEFRIC-” Jack scrambled around to see the perpetrator while Ruggie was too busy laughing his ass off.
The ball of fur that had attached himself to Jack’s tail had bright orange hair, rounded ears, and a wide grin. “Unca did ya see that?! Did ya see that?! I pounced on ‘im!”
“Get off of him!”
Leona came out of seemingly nowhere and lifted his nephew up by the scruff, growling at him. “What did I tell you about jumping on random people? You’re a Prince for fuck’s sake, aren’t you supposed to have more manners than that?”
“Sowwy, Unca.” Cheka pouted.
Leona groaned, then shifted Cheka to hold him up properly, setting him on one of his hips. Ruggie had calmed down from his laughing spree and was wiping the tears away from his eyes. “Leona-san didn’t tell us that Prince Cheka would be coming over. Does this mean King Farena’s here too?” he asked.
“No, that son of a bitch isn’t here. But he and his wife got business to attend to and their sitter cancelled on them, something about a burst appendix, I dunno. But he basically dumped his brat onto me since we don’t have classes today.” Leona explained.
Jack started collecting his stuff, standing up. “Don’t you have plans for later today too, though? How long does his majesty expect you to take care of the young Prince all day?”
“Yes, I do, thank you for reminding me that I have a date. And, yes, my oh so generous brother who doesn’t give a shit about what I have planned, expects me to take care of him until sunset.” Leona spoke with thick sarcasm laced in his voice.
Cheka started making grabby hands at Ruggie so Leona let him down, the little one immediately running towards the hyena who picked him up immediately and set him on his shoulders. “You could leave him with us while you go on your date! I’m great with kids, I’ve grown up around a bunch of them and have to babysit all the time! I know exactly what kind of food helps hungry kids stay calm.”
Leona scoffed. “Please, this kid has never been hungry a day in his life. The second he popped out of the womb he had a tit in his mouth.”
“Were you the one breastfeeding him?” Jack asked, smirking.
Leona glared at him. “There is undeniable sexual tension between your tail and the business end of a butcher knife.”
“Why is everyone going for my tail today?!” Jack hugged his tail protectively.
Leona snorted out a laugh under his breath. “Anyways, as much as I’d appreciate that, Cheka might seem super friendly with other people but he’s got attachment issues and will start crying if I leave the room for more than five minutes.”
“Aww, me too buddy,” Ruggie said, taking Cheka back into his arms and blowing raspberry kisses on his cheek, making the young cub giggle and squeal.
“Like anytime you’re with Riddle you cling to him like a lost puppy?” Leona stepped forward, once again taking Cheka back in his arms.
Ruggie opened his mouth to protest, then thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m not gonna argue with you on that one.”
Cheka plopped his head on Leona’s shoulder. “Unca I want waffles.”
“That’s a very specific craving. With chicken?”
“Yesh!”
Leona sighed. “Aight, you boys are coming with us to get lunch. That’s an order and you have no choice.”
“Aye aye, captain.” Ruggie immediately abandoned his laundry duties in order to stand next to his Housewarden.
Jack just sighed. “Lemme put my stuff away and then I’ll come.”
Five minutes later the three boys and a baby headed through the mirror to go to the cafeteria. Leona was well aware that he was receiving some strange looks from other students while holding a literal child, but one sharp glare sent their gazes away. If there were rumours about him being a dad tomorrow he was going to throw hands with someone.
Eventually, they made it to the cafeteria and Cheka all but jumped out of his arms only to be caught by Leona mid-air.
“Nope, no running around. I am not losing you in this crowd of people.”
Cheka pouted but Leona was pretty much immune to this kid’s puppy eyes by this point. “I said no.”
“Unca, you so mean.”
“Thank you, it’s one of my favourite things about myself.”
Cheka let himself be held for a little longer until Leona could sit down at one of the tables near the window with Cheka in his lap.
“Ruggie, chicken and waffles, ASAP,” he ordered.
“You want anything?”
“The biggest fucking chicken wing they have available.”
“You got it, boss.” Ruggie saluted and then sped off.
Jack grumbled as he sat down across from Leona. “You really gotta stop swearing around such a little kid. That’s not good for him to be around.”
“Oh please, Farena probably drops more than a few cusses around him. I bet I could say worse in front of the kid and he wouldn’t bat an eye.”
Cheka leaned his head back to look up at Leona, wearing a big grin on his face. “Daddy says fuck a lot, then tells me not to tell Mommy right after.”
“See,” Leona rubbed Cheka’s head a little bit more aggressively than was probably necessary. “He’ll be fine.”
“OHMYSULTAN IS THAT A BABY?!”
Leona swivelled around just to see Kalim absolutely beaming at the sight of Cheka, Jamil already looking tired at his antics. “JAMIL LOOK IT’S A BABY! ”
Kalim ran over in front of Leona, mouth running a million miles an hour. “Is he yours? Who’s the mother? Can I hold him? Why did you bring him here? Aw, he’s so adorable! He looks a lot like you!”
Leona held up a hand to stop his chatter. “Slow your roll. No, he’s not mine, he’s my brother’s, I’m just taking care of him.” he stood up. “Yes, you can hold him, just don’t drop him.”
Kalim was absolutely thrilled to be holding the little lion cub. “Jamil, look! He’s so small and his ears look so soft and- OW!”
Cheka giggled, pulling on Kalim’s earring so hard it nearly ripped his earlobe before Jamil came to the rescue and pulled his little hand away. “Kalim, you have to be more careful with young children.”
“I knooooooow but he just looked so cute I figured he’d be harmless!”
Leona tried so hard not to laugh, biting his lip and smiling. “Yeah, no, that brat is a menace to society.”
“What are we laughing at?”
Leona tensed up momentarily as arms looped around his waist from behind and someone’s chin rested on the top of his head.
Oh. Leona relaxed. Just his boyfriend.
“What are you doing here? Wouldn’t that cabbage head have a breakdown if he knew you were ‘mingling with the commoners’?” Leona looked back, smirking.
Malleus hummed. “Sebek doesn’t know I’m here. I heard that there was a baby in the cafeteria and was curious.”
“What, so you could curse it?”
“Not everyone in my family has a thing for cursing babies.”
“Yeah, only your grandma.”
Malleus let out a breathy laugh. “Her greatest achievement.”
“That’s honestly so sad, babe.”
“Unca!”
Cheka bounded over, Ruggie must’ve given him his food already because he had breading crumbs on his cheeks and a waffle halfway in his mouth. He stopped right in front of Leona and looked up, nearly falling over trying to look up at Malleus.
“Unca whoth thith?”
“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Leona grumbled, picking up Cheka for the millionth time of the day. Seriously, his arms were getting sore because this kid was heavy .
Cheka removed the waffle from his mouth and continued to look up at Malleus, entranced.
Malleus tilted his head. “This must be the baby. Is this the nephew that I’ve heard such stellar things about?”
Leona rolled his eyes. “Yeah, this is the brat. You wanna hold him? Apparently, that’s been a popular thing lately.”
Cheka dropped his waffle on the floor (Leona could hear Ruggie crying internally) as he was transferred to Malleus’s arms. Cheka was a little tense, ears flattened, looking nervous. Malleus looked to Leona for help.
“Cheka, Malleus isn’t gonna hurt ya,” Leona said. “I know he looks pretty scary but he’s not all that bad.”
Cheka relaxed a bit. His eyes wandered up to the top of Malleus’s head and he reached out. Malleus was taken aback when the young cub grabbed onto the base of his horns, entranced by them. “Woah! Unca these are so cool!” he exclaimed. “Mister Mawweus, what are they?”
Malleus was a bit disoriented as his head was hauled around a bit, but he managed to answer. “They’re horns like you might find on animals such as rams or deer, or in my case, dragons. They're made of ketamine, which is what your hair and nails are made up of as well,” he explained.
“WOAH! Unca did you know that?!” Cheka asked Leona, absolutely spellbound, any trace of nervousness completely gone.
“I did, actually. Mal’s horns are pretty fun to grab, huh?” Leona shot a wink in Malleus’s direction, the fae’s ears burning at the tips.
Malleus gently removed Cheka’s hands from his horns. “Please be careful with them. If one of my bodyguards saw that they were damaged I think he’d have a heart attack.”
“Ah yes, cabbage bitch.” Leona added.
Malleus looked over at Leona while Cheka started messing with his pointed ears. “Is this child going to be a problem for later tonight?” he asked.
“Probably. I’m so sorry about that, Farena just dumped him on me without asking first. I don’t think I can leave him alone with anyone else or he’ll start crying. We might have to reschedule.”
Malleus allowed Cheka to climb onto his shoulders and very gently touch his horns. “Perhaps we don’t have to reschedule, but simply change the location.” he mused. “What if you came over to Diasomnia? Lilia certainly wouldn’t mind playing with a child such as this, he absolutely adores kids and would be able to look after him while you and I do our date.”
“My problem more is with Cheka needing to be near me, otherwise he starts bawling. But I can’t make out with you in front of him, so it’s really not a great situation to be in.”
“At least it would be better than not seeing each other at all.”
Leona huffed out a laugh. “You’re just as clingy, huh?”
He reached up to remove Cheka from Malleus’s head. “I’ll see you later then.”
“Kiss me first.” Malleus tapped his lips.
Cheka got to him first, immediately reaching out his hand and gently bapping Malleus’s lips, to which Leona couldn’t hold in his laughter, trying to suppress it under his palm. “Aw, that’s adorable.”
Malleus removed Cheka’s hand from his mouth and shot Leona a deadpan look. Leona patted his cheek twice. “You’ll get your kisses later. I gotta clean the little rascal here and then I’ll head over to your place, sound good?”
“Must you make me wait?”
“Patience is virtue, my sweet dragon.”
“Alright, you’ve caused more than enough trouble for the day.” Leona all but threw Cheka onto his bed, to which the small boy immediately started hopping up and down on it, then began to knead at the blankets, mimicking making biscuits.
“Shirt off, it’s bath time. I’m not taking you to Diasomnia all dirty.”
“Nooooo,” Cheka whined. “Don’t wanna.”
Leona sat down next to him. “I’m only gonna do your top half, you can do the rest. I have fruit snacks for you afterwards.”
Bribery always worked on little kids. Immediately after Leona said that Cheka shucked off his shirt and patiently waited for his bath. Leona dragged his nephew into his lap, running his tongue over his ears.
Cheka was still little so his mom and dad still licked him clean and would continue to do so until Cheka could bathe by himself. At least he was more compliant than Leona was, who used to get into physical fights with Farena over bathtime.
Leona had already made Cheka’s hair stand up in a bunch of funny ways when the door busted open. Ruggie was standing there with a pile of folded laundry in his arms. The air froze as Ruggie stared at them.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Get the fuck out.” Leona snapped.
“Are you… cleaning him?” Ruggie choked out a laugh. “YOU TOTALLY ARE! THAT’S FUCKING HILARIOUS!”
“I’m gonna start throwing stuff at you if you don’t tuck your tail and run,” Leona growled.
“Bet, bitch, I’ve got your clothes and am in perfect throwing range.” Ruggie’s face was akin to that of a cat that was about to knock something over.
Cheka whined out loud. “Unca why are you yelling?” He covered his ears. “So loud.”
“Ugh.” Leona stuffed Cheka’s face with his shirt. “C’mon. Put your clothes on, I’ll get you your fruit snacks and then we’re leaving.”
“Totally gonna tell his majesty about this.” Ruggie sniggered.
“Do NOT.”
“SILVER WHERE ARE YOUR OLD PACIFIERS?!”
Silver immediately was jolted awake from his couch nap by Lilia running on the ceiling, holding a box of baby stuff, Malleus catching anything that fell.
“He’s five, not a newborn. Calm down.” Malleus sighed.
“IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN’T JUST SPRING ON ME THAT YOUR FUTURE NEPHEW-IN-LAW IS GOING TO BE COMING OVER AND EXPECT ME AND MY FATHERLY INSTINCTS TO BE CALM !”
Lilia jumped down from the ceiling. “Oh, I don’t even know how to take care of a lion cub! I mean I don’t imagine it’ll be much different than taking care of you or Silver but what if it is?! You’re making your father stressed, Malleus!”
“You’re going to be fine. As long as you don’t kill him or feed him your food he’ll be alright. Probably.”
“Deeply offended that you think my cooking could kill someone.”
At that moment the door swung open and in walked a very disgruntled Uncle with his nephew sitting atop his shoulders.
“Mawweus!” Cheka made grabby hands towards Malleus, wearing a large grin.
Lilia was immediately brought to tears. “Oh Great Seven, he’s adorable.”
Leona let Cheka down and the cub immediately ran to Malleus, clinging to his leg, purring like a house cat.
“Oh, great, he likes you,” Leona spoke sarcastically. “It’s fucking freezing here, ever heard of a hearth?”
“Apologies if we Faeries don’t prefer to get heatstroke,” Malleus replied.
Lilia crouched down to get on Cheka’s level. “Can I hold him? Please please please?”
“Go for it. Don’t blame me if he starts crying.” Leona crossed his arms.
Lilia reached out his arms. At first, Cheka didn’t seem to want to let go of Malleus’s leg but with a little coaxing from Lilia and he was immediately brought into his arms.
“HE’S SO SOFT!” Lilia squeaked. “Malleus you were never this cuddly as a babe! Even Silver grew to hate my hugs!”
Silver raised his hands to cast two middle fingers before shaping them into a heart. “You suck, dad,” he grumbled.
Lilia blew him a kiss. “Love ya too!”
Leona walked over to Malleus and immediately slumped on him. “This kid is driving me nuts. He’s way too energetic for me.”
Malleus looked over at Lilia. “Are we okay to leave Prince Cheka with you?”
Lilia waved him off. “Yes yes, go have fun. Use protection, I’ve got the baby.” he grinned.
“Your dad is so weird,” Leona grumbled as Malleus dragged him out of the room.
Silver sat up on the couch, draping over the back of it to watch Lilia sit down and start playing with Cheka, who was more than happy to match his energy, climbing all over him and laughing along with him.
“You’ve got a funny voice, mister!”
“So I’ve been told.” Lilia mused. “I met your father once before, probably when he was about your age.”
“Woah, really? Daddy was as small as I am?!”
“Yes indeed! You look so much like him I could’ve mistaken you for your father if I didn’t know any better!”
“Did you really meet King Farena when he was so little?” Silver asked, half-asleep.
Lilia nodded. “I did. He was such a sweet boy as well. Leona was fresh out of the womb at the time. It hardly seems like yesterday when it all happened!”
“How old are you exactly, mister Wiwia?” Cheka asked, sitting in Lilia’s lap at this point.
“Hm, I’m not entirely sure, I stopped keeping track a little while ago but if I had to guess then maybe a bajillion!” Lilia laughed.
“Really?!” Cheka’s eyes were filled with stars. “That’s so cool!!”
“Right?! I’m older than your great great great great grandparents!”
“Thas so many greats!!!”
Lilia ruffled the young cub’s hair. “Ah, you’re adorable! I miss being able to mess around with you, Sebek, and Malleus.” Lilia once again looked over at Silver.
“Maybe tell Malleus to have kids then.” Silver waved it off. “Because I don’t want any and Sebek gets no bitches.”
“Don’t speak about your brother that way!” Lilia gasped, right before covering the side of Cheka’s head where he thought his ears were then remembered his ears were actually on top of his head and placed his hands there right after. “And no swearing in front of the child!”
Silver rolled his eyes, laying back down on the couch. “Whatever.”
Lilia huffed, looking back over to Cheka and smiling. Cheka was still in Lilia’s lap but he was as close to him as possible, shivering a little. “Cold…” he mumbled.
“Oh, poor baby!” Lilia stood up. “We should get you out of this freezer of a dorm area!”
“WHEREZMAHBABY?!”
Sebek had barely walked into the dorm lounge when Leona came barrelling out of the dorms, hair mused as hell, looking around.
“Kingscholar?! What are you-?!”
“WHERE’S CHEKA?” Leona shouted. “Fuck, I knew it was a bad idea to leave him with your dad!”
“Leona, please.” Malleus came in right after him, buttoning up his shirt. “Lilia would never do anything to intentionally hurt a young child such as Cheka. They’re probably just in the bathroom.”
“Agh, I knew something was wrong when we were gone for like an hour and still nothing!”
“Can someone PLEASE tell me what is going on?!” Sebek shouted.
Silver walked in, yawning. “Leona left Prince Cheka in Lilia’s care to go on a ‘date’ with the young master and then Lilia left because Cheka was too cold and now Leona’s acting like a frantic mother.”
Leona ran up to Silver and started shaking him violently. “Where did they go? Farena’s gonna kill me if he finds out I lost his brat!”
“Hands off.” Silver smacked his hands. “They went to Heartslaybul last I heard.”
“MAL!”
Malleus sighed. “Do you want me to teleport us there?” he asked.
Leona pulled him in by the waist. “Yes. Now.”
Malleus snapped his fingers, exploding the both of them in green flames, causing Sebek to yelp. When the flames died they were in the Heartslaybul courtyard. “It’s not gonna kill you to use a please once in a while,” Malleus remarked.
“CHEKA! Where are you, ya little shit?!” Leona called out.
“They’re probably- oh my Maleficent.”
Malleus walked after Leona as he ran through the bushes and nearly fell over. “Cheka?!”
Cheka was indeed there, although he was surrounded by Deuce, Cater, and Ace, who were rolling him like a burrito in a blanket that literally looked like a tortilla. Once he was swaddled up Deuce picked him up and spun him around, making the little cub giggle with joy. Over to the side, Lilia was sitting on one of the tables, talking to Trey who appeared to be dipping cake pops.
“Well, he’s not dead,” Malleus said as he helped Leona stand up.
“Oh, there you are!” Cater waved over to Leona. “We were wondering when you were gonna show up! Your little nephew is an absolute cutie, everyone on my Magicam is absolutely raving about how #adorable he is!”
“Who gave you permission to put him on your fucking socials?” Leona growled, taking Cheka away from Deuce and partially unswaddling him. “You okay?” he whispered.
“Mhm! Everyone here is so nice! You have so many friends, Unca Leona!” Cheka laughed.
Trey walked over, holding a tray of cake pops. “We fed him while he was here too, I hope you don’t mind that I basically spoiled his appetite.”
Cheka reached out and snatched two cake pops, a pink one and a brown one, putting both in his mouth at the same time. “Don’t choke,” Leona warned, putting his hand out in case Cheka coughed them out.
“Not gonna choke,” Cheka spoke with some difficulty before swallowing hard. “Dewicious!”
“Glad you like my food, little buddy.” Trey reached up to scratch behind Cheka’s ears, drawing a purr out of him.
“Hey, if I do that to you are you gonna purr?” Ace teased, reaching up tentatively.
“Touch my ears and I’ll kick you in the balls,” Leona warned.
Malleus once again came up behind Leona. “You prefer scratches under your chin, don’t you?”
“Don’t give away my secrets.” Leona shot him a glare. “And stop feeding him cake pops!” he moved Cheka away from Trey so he couldn’t grab any more sweets.
“I’m sorry for not telling you I was taking him here, I didn’t want to interrupt you two.” Lilia winked as he walked over. “I promise the young Prince wasn’t injured at all while he was in my care.”
“I don’t actually care if he gets a few bumps or scrapes, but Farena sure as hell will,” Leona grumbled.
Cheka was getting particularly antsy, trying to fight Leona to get out of his arms so he let him down. Cheka ran over to Deuce to give him back the blanket and then to Cater, holding out his hands.
“Can I have my dwawings back, pwease?” he asked.
Cater smirked at Leona before pulling a few folded pieces of paper out of his coat and handing them to Cheka, who immediately brought them back over to Leona, beckoning him down towards him. Leona knelt down to be at eye-level with his nephew.
“I dwew pictures!” Cheka exclaimed, unfolding the pieces of paper. “Dis one I did of all the people in Heartsmabowl, dis one is of mommy and daddy, dis one is of your frens in Savannahnah, dis one is of Wiwia and Mawweus, and dis one is you and me!”
Cheka continued to show Leona a bunch of really badly drawn images of the different people he was talking about. Malleus and Lilia looked like they were about to tear up simultaneously. “Malleus if you don’t husband up Leona so this beautiful baby child can become my grand-nephew I’m taking away your spindle privileges.” Lilia waved his hands in front of his face as if that would dry his tears.
“I plan to, don’t worry,” Malleus replied.
“You guys are a bunch of saps.” Leona scoffed, gently taking the pictures into hand. “Your art skills have improved since you last sent me drawings in your letters.”
“REAWWY?!” Cheka spoke excitedly. “You neva respond to my letters so I thought you didn’t read them.”
“I do, I’m just busy and don’t have time to reply to them.” Leona folded the drawings back up. “You should take these home with you, your deadbeat dad would probably hang 'em up on the fridge.”
“No! I want you to keep 'em! Pwease Unca!”
Leona stood up, putting the papers in his coat pocket and then lifting Cheka up. “Alright, I’ll keep them.” he smiled.
“Yo! Leona-san!”
Leona looked over, seeing Ruggie pop out of the bushes, holding Riddle’s hand. “Why the fuck are you here?” Leona asked.
“You weren’t the only one with a date tonight.” Ruggie pulled Riddle in by the shoulders and start kissing him on the top of the head, making the house warden turn almost as red as his hair.
“You’re far too embarrassing,” Riddle mumbled.
“Thanks, I’m aware.”
Malleus and Leona tilted their heads in unison, squinting. “They are… disgustingly adorable,” Malleus remarked.
“Tell me about it.” Leona rolled his eyes.
“Oh! I remember what I was gonna tell you!” Ruggie looked back at Leona. “It’s ten minutes to sunset, you should head to the mirror room with Cheka to drop him off.”
Immediately everyone else in the garden let out an audible noise of complaint. “Oh don’t act all sad!” Leona scoffed. “You ready to go home, brat?”
Cheka shook his head. “No, don’t wanna leave you, Unca!” he clung to Leona’s shirt. “Not ready to go home!!”
“Aw, baby don’t cry!” Lilia tried to reach out to Cheka but the cub wouldn’t let go of his Uncle.
Leona sighed. “It’s okay. I’ll take him to the mirror room now.”
“Please tell me you’ll get to babysit him again!” Deuce clasped his hands together.
“Please! He’s so sweet and we love taking care of him!” Ace joined him for the double whammy.
“Queen of Hearts, stop with the puppy eyes!” Riddle hit them both on the back of the head with his staff.
“This probably won’t be the last you’ll see of the screech box, don’t worry.” Leona started walking towards the mirror to leave Heartslaybul. “Bye, everyone.”
“Do I hafta go?” Cheka complained as they waited for Farena to walk through the mirror.
“Yeah, you have to go home,” Leona said, licking the top of Cheka’s head one last time. “It’s almost your bedtime anyway.”
Cheka just huffed. As soon as he did the mirror glowed and out came the bane of Leona’s existence, Farena Kingscholar.
“Ah, Leona! Were you waiting long?” he asked, wearing that sickeningly sweet smile that made Leona immediately scowl.
“Yes, actually.” Leona stepped towards Farena. “Here’s your rascal.”
Cheka begrudgingly was handed off to his father, pouting.
“Thank you for taking care of him, I hope there weren’t any troubles,” Farena said.
“Nah, other than the usual inconvenience that comes with him being around, it wasn’t that bad. My classmates loved him.” Leona crossed his arms. “They… actually all but begged me to ask you to let me babysit him more often so they could hang out with him.”
Cheka's ears perked up, looking at Leona with wide, bright eyes.
“I see, and this would not inconvenience you or distract you from your studies?” Farena asked.
“Nah, it’s not like I care about school work all that much anyway.”
“That may be true but I still want you to graduate this year.” Farena let out an awkward laugh.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got a few reasons to make sure I’m caught up with my credits to walk at graduation this year.” Leona started messing with one of the braids framing his face. “Now take your spawn of satan and leave me be, I haven’t been able to take a nap all day because of him.”
Right as Farena was about to step through the mirror to leave Cheka cast a little wave in Leona’s direction.
“Bye-bye,” he whispered.
Leona’s shoulders relaxed, and he smiled softly, waving back. “Bye-bye,” he replied, barely audible.