Chapter 32: I Was Just Curious

Daisy's favorite day of the trip so far was the one where she got to spend the whole day with Leo. They explored more of the city, making it as far as the castle gates they couldn't enter, before leaving town.

She didn't understand where he was leading her but she followed him all the way to a mostly hidden little stone building that looked like it should be condemned. Why had he brought her here of all places? Was there something special inside?

No. The inside was every bit as unimpressive as the outside. It was cleaner than she would have expected though. She looked to him in confusion and he laughed as he took off his eye patch.

"I found this place not long after moving to the capital. It's completely abandoned so I've been using it to practice my fire magic without anyone finding out. I spend most of my days off here. It isn't very impressive but you did say you wanted to know what my life was like out here so I figured I should show you."

Daisy's heart warmed. Her secretive friend was showing her something he hadn't shown anyone else. How could she not be touched by that?

She noticed a small kettle and a pouch of the hair-darkening herbs in the corner that she hadn't paid attention to before. This must be where he dyed his hair too so no one would see him do it.

"Seems like a pretty solid hideout to me," she told him.

"It'd be nice if I had some furniture out here but it would be hard to lug anything out of town without being noticed," Leo said with a shrug. "I don't come here to relax though so it's not that important."

"Can you show me some fire magic? I want to see what you've been practicing."

"I'm already using it to warm this place up but I suppose you'd want to see something more flashy. Here you go."

Leo began making tendrils of flame swirl around them in dazzling patterns. Daisy was transfixed like she had been the time he made her fire flowers as a farewell gift. Magic was mesmerizingly beautiful.

"That's amazing, Leo!"

"It's really not that impressive. Any fire mage can do this much."

He said that as if he knew other fire mages. She was reminded of what that man in the bookstore said about magic being passed through bloodlines. He had to be talking about his family.

Leo never said anything about his family. Daisy had been under the impression that he didn't have one but now she wondered. Were they abusive? Was that why he had run away from them and tried so hard to assimilate into another place?

He was hiding his appearance and powers. There was a high chance his name was fake too considering he was using her fake last name.

She had assumed Leo was short for something though since she doubted he was a displaced soul in someone else's body like she was. She had been forced to take on the name Veronica. She never would have chosen it.

When she was on the run as a child, she used other plant and flower names to throw people off since you couldn't exactly get a nickname out of Daisy and she wasn't all that creative. At different points in time, she had been Ivy, Violet, Rose, and Iris.

Leo didn't seem like the creative type either but there was also the fact that he hadn't bothered telling her what his name was when she told him her real one. He had already spilled so many other supposedly dangerous secrets to her that there was no reason not to tell her what his name was.

The names in Mirea seemed partly fantastical and partly old-fashioned. His name could be anything from Leonard to Galileo.

Daisy snapped out of her thoughts when she realized he was talking to her. "I need to dye my hair today. Since you're here, could you help me out? It is easier having it done than doing it myself."

"Sure," she agreed easily.

He boiled the tea using magic then waited for it to cool enough that it wouldn't burn his scalp or her hands as they went back to chatting about things they had seen walking around the capital earlier. This was a familiar routine for the two of them that she hadn't thought they would ever be able to do again.

Daisy was content. Being back with Leo again was even better than she had anticipated. How was she supposed to go back to the farm only getting letters once a month?

Maybe she really would have to sell it. She supposed she would have to see what happened when the time came. She really didn't want to go back home but had to be a responsible adult.

"Hey, Leo…what are you going to do once you've accomplished your goal?" she asked curiously. "Will you stay in the capital?"

He let out a small laugh. "Yes."

Had his goal changed because she was potentially planning on coming here too to try and become a royal gardener? When he originally left, he promised that he would come back to her…though he didn't specify whether it was to visit or on a permanent basis. Only that he would come back.

Daisy frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Leo, what do you want to do afterward? You never said."

He had never given much if any detail about what he wanted aside from fame and fortune to regain what he lost. That seemed a bit strange for someone on the run to want but supposed he had disguised himself so well it was unlikely anyone would ever find him.

Especially now that he had grown up and his face looked more like a man's than a boy's. His most distinguishable characteristics were hidden and he was using a fake name. It shouldn't be too much of an issue.

"Does it really matter?" Leo asked in a neutral tone.

Daisy hadn't meant to offend him but he sounded strange. "I guess you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I was just curious."

"It isn't anything bad!"

She hadn't thought it was anything bad but his defensiveness was making her curiosity flare up. Why didn't he want her to know? She didn't want to be nosy but she truly did want to know his long-term plans.

Being apart from him made her realize that she didn't want to spend the rest of her life pretending to be someone else without being around someone who understood her. Existing wasn't the same as living. There was a stark difference between getting by and actually enjoying herself.

Daisy was much happier when she was around Leo because she didn't have to watch what she said to the same degree she did with everyone else. She could relax and be herself for the most part.

He was also very good to her. He treated her better than anyone else ever had. Why wouldn't she want to be around someone like that?

If his long-term plans weren't compatible with hers, she might find some degree of satisfaction from other things but she wouldn't be happy. Not the same way she would be if they matched up.

After several minutes of heavy silence, Leo blurted, "After everything is done, I want to be with you!"

Daisy was momentarily startled to the point that her hands massaging the tea through his hair froze. When she snapped out of it, she was indignant. "Of course that isn't bad! Why couldn't you have said so earlier?"

"I didn't want to pressure you. But really, Daisy…I always hoped you would come out here eventually but I thought you loved the farm too much to want to leave it so I was afraid to say anything."

There were things she did love about the farm. The satisfaction of hard work, accomplishing something, the food, having a large space to herself with beautiful trees and fresh air.

But there were also things she wasn't as fond of. Milking the cow and goats, collecting eggs from grumpy chickens, having to do so much heavy lifting, not being able to plant flowers because of everything else she had to do and a lack of seeds out in the country.

Daisy's original dream involved having a magnificent flower garden with fruit trees and fresh vegetables and herbs elsewhere on the property. The farm focused entirely on the latter half while ignoring the former.

Honestly, she would rather work with flowers but she would miss the freshness of the fruits and vegetables. There were more pros than cons about moving.

She wouldn't have to pretend to act like Veronica anymore either. She could be herself even if she had to use the name for continuity's sake since Leo's army friends knew of her that way.

"I love flowers more," Daisy replied simply. "Besides, there are more reasons for me to move than not. My main concern is figuring out who to sell to that won't leave the Krinzels and the twins unemployed."

"Why sell at all? You could straight up give the farm to Callum if I pay for your expenses to move here and get settled. He could run it with his brothers and split the profits," Leo suggested.

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