Page 55 of Fractured Empire

“Love you too, princess,” her brother replies, rolling his eyes.

“It’s a fairytale, Gaia,” I speak up, voice soft. “Ares didn’t make up the idea himself. You shouldn’t call him gross.”

“Papa says I can call him gross when he smells like that,” she argues, nose pinching once again.

Frowning, I look to Ares to fill me in.

He shrugs, looking unbothered. “Cigarettes.”

“Oh,” I realize and my face scrunches reactively.

“See,” Gaia huffs. “Gross.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ares drawls, unaffected by her vehement reaction. “Are we done here? Katya has more guests that she needs to be bothered by.”

“Fine.” Sighing dramatically, she snatches his hand, ready to be led away. “You can help me find juice. I’m thirsty.”

“As you wish.”

I don’t have time to laugh off my sister’s bright personality before another lively little face takes her place.

“Daddy!” Leo launches himself into his father’s legs, wrapping his little arms around him as best as he can and squeezing hard. “Bastian and me were so good, weren’t we?”

As if he knows exactly what his son means, Leon nods and smiles down at him approvingly. “You were very well-behaved during the wedding. You stayed quiet during all the important parts, and you cheered at the end exactly like Uncle Apollo and Daddy told you. Both of my sons are so clever, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Leo agrees, basking in the praise. He lets go of his dad to grab his brother’s hand and pull him closer to us. “You coming to our house now, Kat?”

He seems so thrilled by the prospect that I almost change all of my plans to tell him yes. I could drop everything and move in immediately, even if it wouldn’t be as smooth of a transition. Anything to make him keep that little smile on his face.

“Not yet,” I reply reluctantly, not wanting to overstep. “But after you go to sleep tonight, you’ll only have one more sleep before I come to move in with you. Would that be all right with you two?”

“I’m so excited,” Leo agrees by way of answering.

I look to Bastian, hoping not to see sadness anywhere near his face. Thankfully, I find only bashful agreement.

“We’ll have your room prepared, and be happy to have you.”

God, he’s so polite and official sounding. Like a little lord.

“I’ll be happy to spend more time with both of you,” I promise, leaning down to get closer to their level. “And if there’s anything you ever need or want from me, I want you both to ask without worrying, okay? I’ll never be upset to hear what you have to say.”

“Okay,” Leo agrees eagerly. “Can we have a puppy?”

A startled giggle crawls up my throat at his blunt request.

“I…” I trail off, looking up to Leon with a helpless expression. My husband blinks rapidly, seemingly lost for words as well. “I’ll talk to your daddy about that, okay? I think a puppy would be a lovely thing but a lot of responsibility and we’ll need to make sure that we have plenty of time to take care of it, hmm?”

Eyes lighting up like I’ve just told him yes outright, Leo shakes Bastian’s arm. “Did ya hear? Did ya? She say my idea is love-lee.”

Oh my God, my heart.

“I heard, Leo,” Bastian confirms quietly. “We should go back to Uncle Apollo. Dinner is starting soon.”

“Ohhhh, yes,” Leo agrees readily. “I want po-tatoes.”

“We’ll see you soon, okay?” Leon asks, looking down proudly at his sons. “Be good for your aunt and uncle.”

“We will,” they echo in sync, sounding dutiful and sure.