A/N: Ah ha! Didn't I tell you, more aired out passages. *Puffs out chest* If you're curious about the language of the Southerners, it's my own. I was too lazy to come up with anything cool. I'm Bengali, by the way. That's an itty-bitty-witty country in South-east Asia, with a huge population, in case you're curious.

Boy Bride: Chapter Three

Leonhart seethed in his seat, his pen just inches over parchment, dripping ink all over it. He just couldn’t concentrate, not while knowing that Myrddin could very well be engaging war with the Njord kingdom. Sighing, he lifted a weary hand and brushed aside long, chocolate-colored bangs.

“I give up,” he said, voice soft, defeated, and Nana, who was waiting at his side nervously, startled from her spot and looked to him.

“Don’t say that, Leon,” she said, anxiously nibbling on her lower lip. Leonhart noticed that her hands were wrenched tightly around her long, frilly apron, wringing it until her knuckles turned white. “He never meant to hurt you.”

Her words only angered him further. He couldn’t understand why she always stood up for the little demon, but never for him.

“Of course you’d say that!” he snapped angrily, and she flinched, but remained silent. He could see the start of wetness under her lashes. Guilt coursed through him immediately and he hastily apologized. “I’m sorry, Nana, I didn’t mean to snap. I guess I’m just tired.”

She immediately moved to place a hand on his forehead—checking for fevers, no doubt—but he grabbed it before it could, taking her softer hand into his more calloused one and giving it a squeeze. He offered her a stiff smile, a slight look of warning making his grey eyes sparkle like ice. She backed away at once and he sighed.

“Tell me again why he left,” he ordered, no longer a question that she could avoid, as his voice was strict, and she knew Myrddin couldn’t slip his way out of this one. Briefly, she prayed for her old friend before attending to the matter at hand.

“He went to the Grand Market...” she told the Alpha softly, voice barely above a whisper, and his frown became a scowl.

“I know that, Nana! I’m asking why,” he hissed, the words coming out through clenched teeth, and she swallowed dryly, wishing his hand—still clenched around her own—would loosen. It didn’t.

“I’m not completely sure why he left,” she answered. His eyes narrowed, and she quickly plowed on. “But I know he said he wanted to buy something at the market. Something for you.”

That stopped him for a second, and his death grip loosened just enough for her wrist to slip out. She rubbed it slowly, attempting to shake away the pain, and swore to kill Myrddin herself if he ever put her in this position again.

“What in Hel is he getting me? Did I not ask for a simple celebration this year?” he asked, seething. Nana remained silent, but that was answer enough for him. “Damned Wizard. I specifically ask for nothing and he gives me something, consequentially missing the one thing I wanted. How backwards. And he missed the splendid feast you made for us, too.”

The last part was spoken softly, an apology, and Nana smiled upon hearing it, moving closer to pull the young man into her arms. He fidgeted, while she pushed his messy hair out of his face, pressing her lips to his smooth forehead, completely ignoring the red that stretched across his cheeks.

“I love you, sweetheart...” she whispered softly, and he smiled, about to reply, when she cut him off. “...and Myrddin does, too.”

Predictably, he scowled, folding his arms together over his chest like an angry child who didn’t get the toy he wanted.

“Oh, come on, not that again. You know it’s a lie. That little brat doesn’t love anything or anyone but himself!” he cried. Nana shook her indulgently, a patient smile on her lips. After a few seconds, Leonhart added, “And I hate him.”

“No, you don’t,” was her immediate response, forcing another scowl from him. “You can’t honestly look me in the eyes and say that you hate him. Hasn’t he ever done anything that made you doubt that?”

And Leonhart grudgingly relented, admitting a few happy memories with the obnoxious wizard.

“Do you want to fly, Leonhart?” The question surprised him, more so than usual, and he turned wide grey eyes up to the slightly taller figure.

“Fly?” he asked, doubtful. Even at the ripe young age of five, he couldn’t help but feel skeptical. Fairy-tales weren’t real. Maybe, once upon a time, he would have believed in the gift of flight, had he been sitting in his mother’s lap, her warm arms engulfing him, while he sipped hot-cocoa and listened to her stories. Once upon a time, but not now. Now, she was dead, and he was a man, and men didn’t believe in the ability to fly, so he let the other boy know. “People can’t fly, Myrddin, only birds can.”

The wizard seemed amused by his answer, and that, in turn, annoyed him.

“Oh, can’t they? Well, I guess you’re right, but you know what?” The wizard smirked at the curiosity that sparkled within the small boy’s icy grey eyes.

“What?” he asked, petulant, but the curiosity was still there, obvious to the wizard.

“I bet a Leonhart bird could fly, eh?” the wizard asked, suddenly throwing his arms in the air. Before the boy knew it, he was floating, small arms waving furiously in the air while he wailed.

“I’m going to tell Nana!” he shouted, and apparently the threat worked because the next thing Leonhart knew, he was falling. Eyes wide, arms flailing, and most of all—falling, falling, falling—and then, arms, a warm embrace, a laugh—soft, almost childlike.

“Silly Leon, I wouldn’t let you fall,” the wizard whispered, voice soft. His green eyes were filled with warmth and another, unidentifiable emotion. “You know that, don’t you, boy? You know that I wouldn’t let you fall?” And the small, brown haired bundle could only nod.

“You’re right...as much as I’d hate to admit it, I can’t hate him,” he whispered, irritated at this truth. He ducked his head down ashamedly, more angry with himself than with the wizard, and Nana smiled affectionately, petting his brown locks as if he was a lazy kitten. At that point, the door opened, and Myrddin walked in like he owned the place.

“Love you, too, darling,” the wizard began cheekily, as soon as he’d stepped through the threshold, and Leonhart growled, teeth clenched like an angered animal. Nana looked between the two males worriedly, wishing Myrddin would stop provoking Leonhart, but she didn’t know what to say. In the end, she settled for being mediator, a neutral distance between both males and ready to offer assistance, though hoping it would not be needed.

Myrddin took in both Nana’s protective movement and Leonhart’s angry demeanor with appraising emerald eyes, a sly smirk on his face.

“Nana, my dear, I believe you should leave,” he said, and the woman started immediately, surprise registering in her earth-brown eyes. Leonhart gaped at him as well.

“Are you sure about that, Myrddin?” she asked, offering him a disbelieving look, before gesturing slightly towards Leonhart. “I mean...don’t you usually want me around when you and Leonhart...disagree?”

She bit her lower lip, gazing at him with her sweet, motherly brown eyes, but he only shook his head. Leonhart watched the exchange curiously, mouth set into a firm line, but he was curious as well.

“Don’t worry about me, love, I’ve got insurance,” he assured, inserting his small hands into his robes and pulling out the insurance: a small, black leather-bound journal with Leonhart’s name printed on the cover in gold ink. Upon seeing the “insurance” the Alpha’s eyes bugged out, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. Myrddin proceeded to shoo Nana out of the room, completely ignorant to her doubtful looks. Once the woman was gone, he turned back to the still frozen Alpha.

“Now that I’ve got your attention, we can finally talk. And you’d better hear me out,” he ordered. The serious edge to his voice made Leonhart’s jaw snap shut, and the Alpha gazed at him with intense, fiery grey eyes.

“If I were you, I’d talk, and fast,” he hissed, voice clipped and cool, and Myrddin nodded, not fazed in the least. He pulled the journal closer, unclasping it to show slightly yellowing pages covered in long, sloping handwriting. Leonhart’s eyes narrowed further as he began to read the script.

9-10-XX

I realized something strange about myself today. Something I never would have imagined.

I guess it’s been going on for a long time, but I’ve never noticed it—or maybe I’ve just been in denial.

The Council has been hounding me for a while, trying to find me a foreign princess to wed, but I just haven’t felt attracted to any of them. They’re too shallow, too cruel, too stupid, too thin, too fat, too ugly, too pretty. I could go on and on. After meeting the last princess, Lady Desdemona of Islanda Britanica, I felt as if I’d never get married; at least not for love. I lost all hope.

But today...today I fell in love for the first time, but it isn’t normal. How can it be? My lover is not delicate, lady-like, or even a woman. I can’t believe I’ve fallen for a soldier. A male soldier. Odin, tell me, what in Hel is wrong with me?

Current Alpha,

Leonhart Alexander of Höðr

Leonhart ducked his head when Myrddin finally finished reading, refusing to meet the wizard’s searching gaze.

“The article is dated for a year ago, and it goes on to say that you fell out of love with your soldier lover, but you still don’t have an interest in the fairer sex,” the wizard stated simply, not cutting any corners, and Leonhart nodded his head stiffly in agreement.

“That’s right,” the Alpha offered in a quiet voice, one that completely lacked emotion. Myrddin tried—and failed—to meet his gaze, before sighing irritably, running a small hand down the expanse of his star-scattered robe in order to straighten out any wrinkles.

“For Odin’s sake,” he finally began in an irritable tone. “I’m not going to ostracize you for it, Leonhart, so you don’t have to look so ashamed.”

That surprised the young Alpha and he finally gazed back up at the wizard.

“You won’t?” he asked, and Myrddin smiled almost smugly in response.

“Why should I? I myself have experimented with the... er, more rugged sex, shall we say, before. A young king, much like yourself, and I had quite the rendezvous back in the day. And the God Loki mated with the stallion Svadilfari...of course, he was a mare at the time, but meh, what do technicalities matter?” he mused, waggling his brows suggestively, and Leonhart gazed at him in shock, mouth gaping and eyes wide.

“You’re...serious?” he asked. The wizard gazed back at him blankly, and his next words were spoken softly, as if he were speaking to a particularly slow child.

“Of course I’m serious, Leon. Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, cheerful, as if they were talking about the color of the sky, or something else very obvous. The Alpha face-faulted in response, looking at a loss for what to do. Myrddin offered him an encouraging smile. “I would support you whether you loved man, woman, or animal, and I’ve devised a plan to help you.”

That snapped the Alpha out of his stupor, and he glared at the small wizard, silver eyes boring into his mischievously smiling face suspiciously.

“Unless you can magically make me interested in women, I doubt you can be of any help,” he said sarcastically, but there was a smidgen of hope to his tone. Myrddin glared in response.

“You forget, I am the greatest magician in all of Gale. Anything is possible,” he said, raising up a victorious little fist, and Leonhart’s careless facade faded, hope registering in his steely eyes. Then, the wizard faltered. “Except maybe that. It’s a little difficult to change a person’s entire being, you know? Though I could probably turn you into a woman. Physical body can be changed faster than mentality or personality.”

His response made Leonhart growl, his teeth bared for attack as he bounded closer to the wizard, intent on snapping his neck. Myrddin squealed in a very undignified manner, before throwing his arms up in surrender.

“Wait! I can do something for you! I can get the Council off your back enough for you to have the relationship that you actually want...kind of,” he stuttered. That piqued the Alpha’s curiosity, and the hand that was bunched in the wizard’s robe loosened. Myrddin took deep calming breaths and rubbed the constricted area in his chest, glaring audibly at the Alpha with a pout. Leonhart paid him no mind.

“How can you do that? Get the Council to leave me alone? They’ve been hounding me since my fifteenth Dawning and would probably have started earlier had it not been for Nana,” he asked, though he hated giving the wizard any leverage over himself, any interest that could increase his over-inflated ego, but he had no choice. Myrddin grinned like the cat that had gotten the canary and the cream.

“Let’s just say I bought you a gift...one that both you and the Council won’t be able to say 'no' to,” he said, taking the suspicious Alpha’s hand in his own, tugging him out of his study and personal chambers, and dragged him to another room, one that wasn’t very far from the Alpha's own. Leonhart wasn’t aware that there was anyone or anything in the room, but he followed along dutifully. Once they were in front of the room, Myrddin gave Leonhart a push and gestured towards the door. “Open it.”

The Alpha swallowed dryly and obliged, blanching once the door fully opened. Feminine at first glance, but definitely a beautiful young male. Hair like the moon, gently closed eyes, and the sweetest, ruby-red smile. He turned back to Myrddin angrily.

“You bought me a male slave!?” he shouted, and the Höðr palace quaked like Thor’s hammer striking the sky.

A/N: Next chapter--the one you've all been waiting for--Jibriel and Leonhart's fated meeting...kind of. Not much of a surprise; you guys knew it would happen since before you started reading, but it'll be a cute scene. I think. Or should I say, I hope. You'll have to let me know.

Thanks: Everyone who has read, reviewed, or added to their story-alerts/favorite stories. I love you guys. :) Also, thank you to my LJ reviewers. You rock!

Kiki: Thanks for understanding. *Glomps*

R&R: Please share your opinions with me. I love, love, love hearing them so much!!! Anything at all. What you liked, disliked, found amusing, etc. Work with me here. Forgive any errors. I'm bushed right now.