Ignite the fire

He lifted his gaze, and when he saw that it was more important than the newspaper in his hand, he decided to fold it together and placed it on the table before him giving her his undivided attention. Which seemed to have been the right action as she mentioned that it was time to let Irina and Nigel get the house for themselves. That made his brow lift, now, the first thing he thought was to offer that she could just move in here, but there was something in the way that she had said it that made him pause and a soft smile formed over his lips. “In a, I need to spread my wings and try to do some things on my own?” he asked, lifting a brow, knowing that feeling relatively well, even though he had never managed to do quite that because of his role in the family. Not that he was despondent about that, at least not any longer as he had found peace within himself. But that didn’t mean Mariella deserved to do just that, especially at her young age. One thing was sure, he wasn’t going to stand in her way of exploring new waters and discovering who she was, and if she wanted him to be with her through it all, he would, and if not, he would be waiting for her to come back.

Mariella took a deeper breath in again, giving Leon a warm smile to his question. Because it wasn't quite that and well, in some ways it was. Just last year, and the first few months of this, Mariella had learned more about herself than she could possibly have imagined. "If, in by saying that, I want to not be depending on my brother all the time, yes - not that I am, and all my brothers live on their own, they have their own lives," she twirled one of her locks around her finger for a short second, "which I guess just gave me the thought that so could we - or I could, depending on what you would like of course -" she did realize by now that she didn't wasn't even sure if she was phrasing herself how she wanted to. "Because really, whenever I'm thinking about where I am in the future, no matter where I place myself, I'm always with you," Mariella exhaled a little bit by the confession.

He listened. It was something he had learned from a young age, especially when you grew up in a pack like his where people were holding such great auras, and all of them had some sort of alpha or beta energy around them; it was hard ever to get your voice across, especially when he had been young. So, where his older brother had been good at fighting back and earning his place where he could roar the oldest, Leon had instead found the weapon he mastered was knowing what was going behind those said words, the unsaid sentences and then knowing exactly what to say or do.
So when she concluded that whenever she thought about her future and what she wanted to do, he would be in them, his smile grew, and he leaned over and placed a soft kiss against her lips after his hand had caught her cheek. “Well, I would very much like to be part of that future”, he said with a bigger smile before leaning back again. “You want to find a day where we look at a house or apartment?” he asked, looking at her before reaching over and taking his cup of coffee so he could enjoy it while they talked.

Mariella reciprocated the short kiss and slowly opened her eyes after, feeling how her smile grew bigger by the second as he replied back that he wanted to be a part of that future. She slowly exhaled while he leaned back again, Mariella ran one of her curly red locks behind her hair. "Yeah, that would be nice," she replied taking a sip of water, before grabbing a slice of bread that she broke in half before starting eating it. Feeling how excited she was about this step, but it was also okay, because there was no part of her that didn't want this. Even so she wasn't in a rush like so, the only rush she had was that she wished for Nigel and Irina to have their house for themselves, and given so, she could stay here or at Ayah while her and Leon went looking around.

He nodded and gave her a big smile, knowing that it meant moving a few things around, but he was sure that he could make it work, which reminded him that he would very much like his father to talk with Sarah, maybe she could be able to make a permanent portal between this house and Theronida, that would make it all the more easier for him, and he didn’t need to rely on Elias every time, which would give them both more space to move around with. He was sure that Elias wouldn’t mind having a little more time with Flora.
He took out his phone and started looking at dates while moved to the table and took his coffee so he could drink while he was looking. “If I move things around I’ll have a couple of days off two weeks from now” he said turning to Mariella giving her a small smile.  

Mariella took a slightly deeper breath in, downing a glass of water while he looked through his phone. She sat back in the chair having finished eating, not just left with the remains of what had happened and how the fire within her felt almost at piece. She couldn't really place the feeling, which was a first, her head turned towards Leon as he spoke, then nodding. "It's perfect," she assured as her left hand ran through her hair, before reaching her hand out to place it on top of his giving it a small squeeze. Mariella was looking forward to go. She worried about what to do with her father, her aunt as well - but it was thoughts she put to rest for the moment. At least till she knew if there was a reason to worry about it, her father was another story - especially after today, it was a fresh wound, but if anything she was rather good at preserving herself.

“Good,” he said with a soft smile before he started plotting things in and moving around a few meetings. It shouldn’t be that impossible, but there was still a small voice in the back of his head, telling him that he shouldn’t get too comfortable—as things tended to happen at the last minute, and then suddenly, his day off, he had to come in to cover a few things, making sure that everything ran smoothly. Those who thought being a prince was glamorous had clearly never really been in the proximity of a royal. He had envied people that was born as regular people with no expectations enough times to know that wishing you had unlimited money and a title that came with a lot of prestige didn’t have a clue of what it was all really about—and even that he could envy because it meant that they didn’t truly understand, and sometimes not understanding made you blissfully unaware of the dangers around you.  
“It’ll be all right”, he mumbled, pulling her a little closer by putting his hand on the back of her chair—sliding it towards him. He placed a soft kiss against her temple before he put away his phone to pick up his cup of coffee.

Mariella nodded and exhaled once again, it would be alright, letting herself once again find the belief in things would be alright. She was after all alright - as alright as one could be after realizing you barely knew what you were capable off. But she could feel a whole lot of new potential awaited her. But for now she closed her eyes as she felt his lips against her temple, exhaling softly once again. Just taking one step at the time, they could do that. She could do that.
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