Lewis took the twin boys and hugged them, keeping them quiet. “I’m surprised you all recognize us with these altered appearances,” he said as he tried to calm the boys down. He was thankful for Angela’s silencing magic around the room.

“Duh,” Lila said, walking over to Terra. “You seem like you would be fun to play with. We can play tag…the last one we played with just cried the entire time. It was boring..” She seemed annoyed. “Maybe not…you seem like a crybaby too.”

Janus nodded, “Definitely a crybaby. He would be boring….”

“I am NOT,” Terra said, stomping his foot. “I could play tag with you no problem!”

The twins looked at him, and at once the pressure in the room increased, almost suffocating him.

Janus was smiling, his eyes wide with anticipation. “Can you run fast?”

Lila’s eyes were cold, but her smile was menacing. “Can you hide well?”

The boy took a step forward. The pressure increased. “Can you hold your breath in?”

The girl followed, her voice like a razor in the air. “Can you lock away your terror?”

Terra was shaking. “W-what…” A cold sweat started to form. This was it. He was going to die. There was nothing stopping them from absolutely killing him right here and now.

“Hey,” a dull voice rang out. “Cut it out you two..” Lewis was giving them a look. “You’ll make him piss his pants and I have to sleep here.”

At once the pressure was gone from the room.

“Fine,” Janus said yawning. “He was getting boring anyway.” An obvious lie.

“I guess,” Lila responded. “He would have cried anyway….”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “Every time with you two. At this rate, you won’t have any friends.”

“We have plenty of friends, Daddy,” Lila said, pouting. “So many friends.”

“All the friends in the world,” Janus said nodding in agreement with his sister.

Simone chuckled a bit at Terra, “Be careful. They are extremely powerful for little kids. Janus come here.” The five year old ran to his mother and she lifted him up to hold him. “You need to be good.” She kissed his forehead.

“No fair,” Lila said as she also ran to Simone.

“My lap isn’t big enou–” Simone got tackled by both of her kids and she was laughing with them. “You two are terrors.” She kissed both of their foreheads. “I love you all so much.”

“You love you too!” They yelled it back at her.

“YEAH!” Remy yelled with them.

“YEAH YEAH!” Damond yelled not to be outdone by Remy.

“You all are so much,” Simone smiled at them. She kissed them. “But you need to go back to Elysia okay? Stay safe with your grandmother.”

“Yes, good teach them,” Angela nodded as she held out her arms and the younger twins went to her easily. “Come on now. Raine said she will play with you.”

“I LOVE HER GAMES!” Lila yelled as she hopped off Simone with Janus trying to run.

“Kids,” Simone said it deadpan as they stopped. The older twins ran back to Lewis and hugged him.

“We love you Daddy!”

“Such a one track mind set they have,” Simone laughed as Angela left and she sighed

Terra sat there watching and finally he didn’t seem as scared, “You guys have a hell of a family.”

“Yeah… We do…” Simone smiled at Lewis. “Just sucks we have to do this.”

“Blame your husband. This would have been so much easier had he just let you go to the auction.”

Simone glared in Lewis’s direction, “That’s it. I’ve decided my punishment for you.” She got up and pointed at Lewis. “YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR BURNING MY INVITATION TO THE AUCTION!” She poked his chest and backed him into the wall. “You are taking me to the Flower Dance.”

Lewis paused, “That’s a punushm-, I mean…oh…oh no. The horror.” He had a deadpan look on his face.

Lila and Janus both looked at Simone with the same, dead expression. “Oh no, the horror,” they parroted. That got a laugh from Terra, and soon they were gone, alongside Xeik and Angela.

“Alone again,” Lewis said as he sighed. “So, we have a few leads then.” He looked over the student records again, and sat down on his bed. “Reviewing these…all of these students have great potential, but low access to mana.” He glanced at Simone, “You included.” That meant someone was targeting the weaker students.

“So wait, am I just never eating again?” Terra asked.

“In all likelihood, you’re safe. We’re assuming that it’s the food, but it’s still targeted. Right now they’re going for a specific target group.” Lewis looked at Simone. “You’re going to have to fake mana sickness. At least for a few days.” He paused again. Wait. Do you? If we assume that they’re looking for results…then you being a ‘successful’ case might garner attention from whoever is running the experiment. His eyes widened. “Hellfire.”

You’ve been afraid to use it, but now…if you use it and act surprised… It was coming together quite nicely. “All we have to is be ready. If someone approaches you to run tests…”

Jackpot.

Terra was just staring at Lewis and Simone. “I….feel like I missed something.”

Simone smirked a bit, “…You are going to win the King of Flowers for me.” She crossed her arms. “And be the center of attention and I won’t forgive you if you don’t.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Lewis stared at her.

“Oh but my darling Lewlew… I fucking would,” She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him to her. “And you know I would.”

Finally, back on to other topics she held up her hand to Terra, “We can always buy food and make it ourselves or just eat out. We have the silver for it. I would rather not get sick again.” Then Lewis spoke and her eyes got huge. “You are going to get me kidnapped again.”

Terra looked at her, “I really am missing something.”

Simone sighed a bit, “I am a really strong mage but I have a time limit.” She formed hellfire in her hand. “Hellfire. The ultimate form fire can take… We have a few days before I should show my potential. I at least want to do the flower dance before you get me kidnapped…” She sighed a bit and looked at Lewis. “I was hoping that part of my life was over.”

“…Did kidnapping happen a lot?” Terra was interested in the two.

“…That’s how Lewis got me to live with him at first… After he killed me twice… Like I said it is a terribly long story,” Simone gave him a smile. “He was hired to kill me.”

“You two–” He was cut off by Simone.

“Have the oddest relationship? We get told that a lot but we work well together.” Simone sighed a bit. “Can you walk me back to my dorm Lewis? I wouldn’t want to be outside… in the dark… by myself… in an alleyway…” Simone turned her attention back to her husband. “Alone…”

Terra looked away with a blush as he caught onto what his roommate’s spouse wanted.

“You had me at “walk you back to your dorm.””, Lewis said as he took her arm. “I’ll be back….” He thought about it for a good moment. “I actually don’t know when I’ll be back. Just…don’t worry about it.” He and Simone left the room and left a very confused Terra alone with his thoughts.

—

The Flower Dance was a yearly tradition that was held as the beginning of the Festival of Flowers. It was always held on the first day of the season of Terra. Not to be confused with their new friend, Terra, of course. The Flower Dance held a contest every year for the King and Queen of Flowers, a couple chosen to usher in the season.

Of course, none of that had any true sway over the seasons, but it was all in good fun.

The students had the day off in preparation for the event. Students banded together to make stalls and attractions for the whole week as classes were on hold for the entirety of the Festival. Lewis and Simone wandered around the chaos that was happening on the preparation day, with Terra and Sohpia following close behind.

“Lewis and Simone for King and Queen!” Terra yelled, handing out hastily made flyers.

Sophia giggled, “LewMone is the best pairing for King and Queen! Put your votes in!” she called out.

“I hate you all,” Lewis said with a defeated look on his face. Though, only Simone could really tell.

Simone was giggling as they tortured Lewis for the festival. “Oh but Lewis… You love dancing with me.” She took his hand and spun him around like he was the princess. The students around them clapped and everyone seemed to love how their relationship blossomed in front of them.

Terra was the only one not surprised since he knew they were already married… With a family to boot. “It’s going to be great seeing Lewis with a flower crown.”

“He’ll be adorable!” Sophia smirked as she held out the ballot box for people to hand in their votes.

“I don’t get what’s so special about her,” one particular girl called out.

Simone’s eyes snapped to the beautiful sultry teen that was speaking and tilted her head, “Ah… Your the one who is always glaring at me. If you want Lewis you’ll have to try and take him from me… but the chances of doing that is pretty slim.” She snuggled herself up to Lewis. “Right?”

Terra was nervously laughing but one look from Simone made him just smirk, “I don’t think so Rachel. They are pretty much made for each other.”

“And who are you to even make fun of Simone…” Sophia put her hand on her hip.

“I mean… she’s flat-chested,” Rachel spoke out and Simone saw red but she reminded herself she couldn’t do anything about it right now. She mentally counted down in her head.

“It’s not about breast size… Only morons would think that.” Simone said it coolly. “I mean… Lewis likes smart girls and the last time I checked you are bottom of the barrel. Come on… Let’s go, being here with the common rabble like her bothers me.”

Simone who had always been sweet got shocked expressions from everyone but they knew this was a battleground for Lewis… and it looked like Rachel was definitely going to lose.

For the most part, Lewis was barely aware that another woman even existed. Not only was Rachel a child in comparison to them, but she wouldn’t have even been close to vying for Lewis’ attention. After all, she was lacking one massive feature. The fact that she wasn’t Simone.

“So…what was that about?” Lewis asked. He had felt her anger at the comment, but he was too busy with the mental image of them dancing, his excitement for it bubbling over. Despite his dislike of a public event, he didn’t actually mind it as long as he was with Simone.

“Oh…nothing,” Simone said as she took his arm. “Let’s go get ready…I still need to pick out a dress.”

“Dunno why you bother…it’ll be in tatters at the e-”

Simone stomped on his foot to keep him quiet.

—

The sun was just starting to set as the main event started. The dance was being held in the academy’s auditorium. The building was massive, easily at least half the size of the Terrowin castle, and more than sufficient to hold all of the students, faculty, and then some left over. Lewis and Simone were flagged, along side a few others, as the ‘main’ couples of the night. That being, the ones who had the highest chances of winning the Flower Crowns.

They were all seated at the largest table near the front of the auditorium. Six couples in total… And Rachel was there with her partner, some random guy she had picked up. His popularity had increased exponentially due to her. The other four couples seemed rather bland in comparison, but they were all there for the suspense of the count.

Sophia had brought a rather cute boy with her, and waved from the crowd. Terra was following her around, going the night solo with the hopes of picking some poor, broken hearted girl up from a disastrous night.

“May I have your attention everyone,” a magically amplified voice rang out. The Dean of Magic, Professor Larian. He was one of the potential targets for creating the illegal potions. “We have diligently tallied all of your votes for the King and Queen of Flowers. If you would, Professor Donnavan?”

An older woman walked up, and handed Larian an envelope. She was the Professor that was in charge of the healing ward, and ultimately one of the other potential targets.

“Drum roll, please?” Professor Larian asked. Magical drums started to beat, steadily crescendoing as he opened the envelope. “We have…”

“Lewis Kyhri, and Simone Rennovae!”

Simone had taken nearly all the boys by storm as Lewis led her into the hall. Her long black hair was in slight waves with strings of pearls decorating it to hold some of her hair back. Since shes was in her younger form she had opted for a soft peachy pink color decorated with a spring green sash and a pink rose in the center of the bow. It had a soft white see-through sash tied around the strapless pink material. It was the very visage of spring.

Of course, Lewis matched her which was doing so much better than most of the other couples who were in attendance. As the applause sounded Lewis got up and offered Simone his hand. She took it gracefully and the loving couple went up to accept their flower crowns.

“KISS THE GIRL!” Terra yelled which got everyone else excited. Simone had given him one order. Make Lewis the center of attention.

Lewis was grumbling on the inside but he dipped his wife kissing her soundly. It made the applause go even louder with Rachel giving Simone a dirty look.

“The Flower King and Queen will now lead the first dance,” Donnavan announced as Lewis led her to the dance floor. Luckily, they had so much practice dancing that it was almost too convincing that they were made for each other. Everyone was in utter awe of how well they worked together.

It was the end of the dance and Lewis and Simone were close together. They were laughing and Lewis was peppering her face with small kisses. They were whispering to each other. How much they loved each other. How much they missed each other during the day. It wasn’t an act, this was just normally how they were.

Rachel made a face and marched up, “I would request that Sir Lewis give me the last dance.”

Simone made a face, “If he must… I suppose I can relinquish him but only if he comes right back to me.”

“Fine,” Lewis said with a sigh. He would ultimately rather not, but Simone knew that. He took Rachel’s arm and took the lead. It was there that an interesting thought crossed his mind.

“Dearest Rachel,” Lewis said with a suddenly sadistic smile. “I do hope you can keep up with me…” Lewis and Simone were like one. They could weave in and around each other with ease, and make the most difficult of tasks seem trivial. He sent a mental note to Simone, who moved into action.

A rather fast paced song started, and immediately Rachel’s eyes widened. “I do believe this is-”

“An Egjorian Waltz, a rather tricky one. And if I recall, this particular song is rather difficult…” He bowed as the music readied itself. Rachel curtsied nervously. He took her hand, and they were off.

This being a waltz from a completely different continent, most of the students weren’t sure how to follow their steps. Lewis, of course, was perfect. He had practiced many different dances with Simone, both official on and off the ballroom court. Rachel, however, seemed to struggle to keep up. Her steps were off, as if she were confusing the dance with a more traditional style of waltz from her own country.

“I do believe you’re not holding up too well…shall I take a different partner?” He was quick to step away as Rachel took a step back, obviously exhausted from the physical toll the dance had taken on her.

“No…no I can…” She was panting. Without waiting for permission, Simone stepped in without missing a beat, and Lewis took her hand.

The two finished out the waltz in perfect harmony, garnering a large applause from the crowd at the sheer elegance that they had demonstrated on the ballroom floor.

You did this intentionally, Lewis thought to Simone. Somehow she knew something like this would happen. Her forms of revenge were thought out far too many steps in advance.

Simone was quite the terrifying woman.

Simone was chuckling and she tilted her head, “I missed you. Thank you Rachel for returning him to me.” They kissed lightly and Simone was outwardly smirking towards the woman. I pride myself on being at least one step ahead of my enemies and that girl made herself a target. I told you those dance lessons in Benin were going to pay off eventually.

As the party wrapped up Sophia and Terra came over to Lewis and Simone. Lewis was wrapping a fur cloak around Simone to keep her warm outside now that it was night. “We did what you said… Can’t believe she was that ballsy.”

“I thought she would be. It’s improper to refuse a dance and she knows that so she forced it probably thinking she could win Lewis over.” Simone nodded. “As it turns out both Lewis and myself love dancing so we’re very good at it together. We even practiced it in the little room in the library together.” Among… other things. They found out the room locked.

Sophia read the room right and got close to the two of them to whisper, “I’m staying out for the night… soo…”

“So we can have the dorm room?” Simone smirked up at Lewis. “How very thoughtful of you.”

“Anything for one of my best friends,” Sophia winked and went off with her date while Terra had found some poor girl to snatch for the night.

“Looks like everyone won tonight…”

“I won the most,” Lewis scooped her up to take her away.

–

In the morning, tatters of her dress were all over the dorm and Simone had a bite mark on her shoulder. Apparently, the boys staring at her all night and hitting on her warranted marking what was his. She was snuggled up to him in bed and kissed his lips. “Hey, Handsome.”

She snuggled into him and Sophia came in spotting them both, “Oh, you guys still need privacy.”

“Lewis isn’t shy… As long as you don’t stare.” Simone chuckled as she rolled around in Lewis’s arms.

“I just won’t look!” Sophia was pretty cheerful herself as she had already closed the door.