Little did he know Leona was not worried. Faust had previously told her that he felt more attuned to water in a weird way, but he didn’t specify.

She sat on the balcony with a carafe of red wine, that Titus had magically procured from somewhere, and two cups.

When she saw her fiancée crawl out of the canal she giggled.

‘Well well, guess you are marrying a man bathing in a city dock.’

The smile she regarded him with couldn’t be described as anything, but tender.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faust cracked his neck and stretched his limbs after pulling himself out of the water in only his underpants. His shoulders were wide and sturdy, yet he maintained a lean look with abs, well-defined pecs, and arms. He ran a hand through his wet hair and sighed contently.

“Quite the entrance.” A voice remarked from behind him.

When Faust whirled around, he saw a smiling Chiron, sitting on the other side of the Pier. The man had chosen to sit on a small pillow filled with straw. In his lap, there lay an orange cat, that Chiron petted lovingly. Faust could hear its purring all the way over the canal, which was three meters. A considerable distance for a feline, or was it his improved senses?

Faust laughed.

“Look at you, found a new friend already?”

Chiron smiled softly.

“He has found us,” he paid particular emphasis on scratching the cat's neck, which made it raise its behind in delight as it attempted to get even closer to the monk’s hand. “Titus wanted to send him away, but I said no.”

‘So he just said no,’ Faust had to suppress his laughter. ‘I think Chiron might be one of the few people who can just say no to Titus.’

“What’s his name? I assume he will stay with us if we feed him?” Faust smiled at the animal who looked at him with cute button eyes.

“Felix might be fitting don’t you think?” Chiron slowly stood up under protest from Felix, who was gently put on the ground.

Faust nodded.

“A good name. I have always liked cats.” He walked over and when Felix noticed how wet Faust was he jumped back a step and looked at Chiron as if looking for help.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With a small chuckle, Faust raised his hands as if defending himself.

“Woah little one, you don’t like water, gotcha.” Faust could only smile helplessly before turning to Chiron.

“I will head inside to sleep. Good night Master Chiron.” Faust nodded softly and Chiron bowed briefly, his hands folded before his body.

“Sleep well.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faust had more or less dried by the time he reached their room. He stepped inside, only to notice Leona was still on the balcony. Faust quickly dried himself and put on some comfortable clothes before walking out on the balcony.

“Looks like you had some fun in the canal.” She pinched her nose playfully and showed Faust her tongue. He chuckled as he sat down on the chair on the other side of the small table.

“Can you even see me?” he asked her and she shook her head.

“Not really, outlines, sure, but no more. A pity really.” She sighed and stood up, coming over to him. She was wearing a pair of pants and a loose shirt.

She sat down on his lap and leaned her back against his chest, her head resting on his left shoulder. After a moment of hesitation, he put his hands around her, feeling her thin and comparably frail frame through the soft fabric.

She put her hands on his and sighed contently.

“You know that we will sleep in a bed together tonight, right?”

Her words jolted him briefly and she giggled.

“I know Leona. That makes your father's rule to wait with… it… until marriage all the harder.” He chuckled helplessly and he could hear Leona grunt.

“You know I have always been a free spirit.” She said in a low voice, that stirred something primal within him. Yet he focused himself and clenched his jaws tight.

“A promise is a promise darling, no matter how much we would like it to be different.”

“I know.” She sighed and wound in his embrace, ending up facing him with her hands around his neck.

“But he didn’t say anything about excessive kissing and cuddling?” she brought her forehead to his and they could feel each other’s breath with closed eyes.

‘May this moment never end.’ He sighed and felt the firm outline of her back with his hand. He picked her up and walked inside.

“Let us go to bed, shall we? It is getting late.”

She nodded eagerly, surrendering herself to his arms that carried her inside.

He put her down on the bed and stretched before taking off his shirt and throwing it to the side.

Leona watched attentively. He had lit a small candle that basked him in a warm light, his muscles traced by shadows, making her bite her lip as she watched. Faust chuckled and removed anything but his underpants before sitting next to Leona on the bed.

She nimbly jumped to her feet and whispered into his ear:” My turn. Close your eyes.”

Faust’s heart was racing, but he closed his eyes. He heard fabric rustling, and a little laugh before eventually she whispered into his ear again.

“You can open your eyes.”

What he saw made his jaw drop. With her blonde hair wide open, falling over her shoulders… they were barely covered by fabric. She wore a beautiful, cornflower blue, nightgown, that ended a little above her knees. Faust’s imagination went wild when he saw her collarbone and the soft outline of her chest before his eyes roamed the rest of her body.

He took his time, trying to burn this picture into his mind.

“Beautiful…” he said hoarsely, and Leona beamed with a smile before pressing him into the sheets.

“I need a lot of attention.” She whispered into his ear before biting his neck.

Faust’s jaw clenched.

‘Oh Schenk, you are truly testing me.’ He intended to uphold his promise. He had known it wouldn’t always come easy, but when he was confronted with the blonde, cornflower-dress-wearing, lioness nibbling on his neck, his determination had wavered ever so briefly.

“Excessive cuddling and kisses… but no more.” he chuckled.