To Love, Once Again

"I will not kneel. Good day to you"

Sera turns on her heel, with Leo still in her arms, and marches away. Hopefully some of her words would sink into the gaggle of women there.

She wasn't back to play games with them like she had before. That Sera was long gone. For the first time, she was thankful to Lucien for making her his mistress/maid. Because of it, she had the freedom to do what she wanted, how she wanted, when she wanted it. The rules no longer applied to her.

There were no governesses to encroach on her speech and mannerisms, no ladies-in-waiting that judged her every move. Sera was free.

Leo claps his hands in delight. Not sure exactly what happened, but only knowing that his Mama had won, he was proud.

Another round of gasps fly out when Leo sticks his tongue out at them over Sera's shoulder.

"Stop right there!"

Thud. Thud.

Again with the cane tapping. That held no power over her. Sera keeps going, ignoring Dame Gertrude calls for her to stop.

Fwiip.

The sounds of multiple fans flapping open at once. Sera knew the ladies were flapping away in outrage. But it wasn't like they could do anything to her right now.

They march away until the sounds of the women speaking over each other fade into the sound of bird calls and rustling leaves.

Finally they reach the entrance out of the gardens, towards the cottage where a beautiful path lined with wisteria trees shiver in the wind.

"Mama?"

"I'm a bwad animwal?"

"No baby."

"You're Mama's precious son" Taking the corner of the hem of her dress, she wipes at the snot that's started to drip out of Leo's nose again.

"Mama?"

"Yes, Leo?"

"I hwave a pwesent for you Mama!"

Something soft brushes against her neck.

Looking down at what her son's holding up for her, Sera sees a soft white velveteen rabbit, with pink sateen inner ears and button eyes. The detail the bunny had was astounding, down to the whiskers made out of real thread.

As she walks forward, her arms cradling Leo and Leo in turn, cradling the bunny to his chest, Leo strokes it, holding the soft white sateen fur up for his Mama to feel with her cheek.

"So soooowft" Leo giggles.

"Oh honey, for me?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Bunny hewlps me slweep at night. Mama need to sleep too"

Were her dark under-eye circles that obvious?

Touching the skin under her eyes, Sera realizes that the concealer she'd applied to herself this morning had worn off. It wasn't like she was truly sleep deprived. The dark circles came out easily when she was the tiniest bit tired. There had been so much going on recently, as well as the way Lucien desired her every night, was using up most of her stamina.

Giving him a kiss on the cheek "Thank you honey!"

Leo giggles to himself, face beaming with unadulterated happiness. Mama thinks he's honey. Honey was sweet, and he liked honey too.

The two don't realize the pair of eyes that watch them, shoulders sagging with sadness and loneliness. It was Lucien, watching the interaction between mother and son from the window, high up in the castle. The study where he worked had a window facing out into the Royal Gardens too, with a view right into the purple wisteria path that Sera was walking out of, headed towards Leo's cottage. A gust of wind blew the heavy blossoms to scatter around the pair, hiding the messy hair and stained dress, creating a vision of motherly love.

This was probably similar to the scene his father would have seen if he'd bothered to look out the study window. One of the few happy times Lucien, then called Lu, played with his Queen Mother in the newly built gardens.

----

"Prince!! Thank you Ma'am!!"

The maids exclaim in relief when they catch sight of Sera coming up to the quaint cottage, Leo fast asleep in her arms.

It was a bit of a walk from the Royal Gardens back to the cottage, and with the rocking motions of his mother's steps and her heartbeat in his ears, Leo was off in happy dreamland, dancing with his bunny in his sleep.

Before he'd fallen asleep, Sera was able to convince him to keep the rabbit for her. The bunny needed someone to watch over it, and Leo was the perfect little man for the job.

Leo's eyes had curved into crescents hearing that, puffing out his chest and clutching the white rabbit toy to his chest. "I'll take gwooooood care of it fwo you Mama!"

"That was his very first Birthday present..I delivered it to him when he was two years old."

"My Queen! I'm so glad you found him!!!"

Bea rushes up to Sera, the other maids crowding behind her. The other maids were glad Bea's anger would be finally appeased. It was their fault the small prince had disappeared. Since it had happened on their watch. More than worrying about whether Leo was okay or not, they cared more about whether or not they could keep their jobs. Bea had the exclusive rights to the decision-making on who got hired to work at the cottage. Though this job was a widely-kept secret, it was well-known among the maids, and many would do anything to replace them. After all, it was a simple job of babysitting and playing games, where they could pretend they were real noblewomen, drinking tea and chit-chatting while really letting the Prince run about wild on his own.

"Shhh-" Shushing the maids to quiet down their exclamations, Sera nods her chin down at her son, who mumbles and snuggles against her shoulder.

"Girls, go clean up the mess." Bea shoos away the other maids to clean up the garden and cottage, where every possible hiding place a 5 year old could hide in had been overturned in the search. Pots were moved out of position, door and windows wide open.

""Yes, Miss Bea"" The girls chorus in small voices.

Sera does her best to not wake Leo up from his sleep as she hands him back to Bea.

"Thank you for finding the Prince, My Queen." Lowering her voice, Bea thanks Sera again.

"It's a good thing I found him before anything bad happened to him. There's too many nobles out there right now..and to think I found him with Dorne! Anything could've happened.... Can I trust you to make sure this doesn't happen again?" Voice trembling, Sera tries to stress the importance of Leo staying safe to Bea.

Bea looks upset "Yes, My Queen. I've failed you.."

"No it's alright Bea. Just,, please, make sure he doesn't get out again......I'll find a way to convince Lucien to let him come see me"

Sera knew what she had to do....though she didn't want to do it....

The most effective weapon she had with Lucien right now was...

...her body..

Face blushing red at the thought, Sera changes the subject.

"Also, ummm..Thank you Bea, for giving Leo the bunny. He truly adores it"

"Leo, my Queen?"

"Yes, that's his name"

Eyes glittering with tears, Bea presses her hand over her heart.

"His name is Leo?"

"Yes, Bea"

"That's a wonderful name, my Queen"

Bea leans in to whisper.

"Also, that bunny... Prince Leo thinks you sent it to him from the fairy realm..In actuality, it was the King's gift."

Ba-thump. Sera can't help herself from blushing again.

How sweet of Lucien...To think he'd sent Leo a gift. So he hadn't completely abandoned their son.