#zaffrenotes

@lovealexhunt @ao719 @zaffrenotes

D, this was 1000% me yesterday. This one and the frame where he's washing his hands and the paper towel keeps ripping. This is fine.

cake + books = 😍

...you know me well 😎 i already ordered 6 new books today and had the mole cake for breakfast haha

Author’s Note: just dropping some holiday love for some of my fraaands. this one is for @zaffrenotes - wishing you nothing but happiness and joy and little magic this holiday season and all through the year, my friend! 

Liam and Leo sifted through the box of Christmas ornaments, picking through and recalling memories from years past as they placed them on the enormous spruce in the grand hall of the palace. They'd decorated the tree together their whole lives, and even though Leo had abdicated his claim to the throne and chosen to spend most of his time outside of Cordonia, he still came home for this cherished tradition. Leo took a small snowman figurine out and placed it on the mantle, where Liam's mother had always placed it. Liam reached into the box and pulled out the bundle of faux mistletoe- real mistletoe was poisonous, and therefore not allowed in the palace- letting his fingers run over the glittery plastic leaves and the smooth pearlized berries. He knew that his social season was quickly approaching, and he wondered if he'd end it by finding the one that he'd kiss under this clump of fake leaves and berries next year. He let his thoughts wander to the one and only Christmas kiss he'd ever had, and an involuntary grin pulled his lips up. Leo of course caught it before his brother could catch himself, and he certainly wasn't going to let it go.

“I know that look,” he smirked, returning to the box of decorations.

“What look?” Liam shrugged, trying to play dumb, busying himself with digging through the box again, this time retrieving a small rocking horse ornament, bringing it to the tree and hanging it high on a top bough.

“The look that you just had on your dumb face, your highness,” Leo did an exaggerated bow to his brother, a big goofy smile on his face and a twinkle of mischief in his clear blue eyes. Liam felt his own dark eyes sparkle too as the smile drew itself across his face again. “You're thinking of Donna, aren't you, brother?” Leo was a jokester and a rebel. He was a mischievous thorn in Bastien's side, a carefree daredevil that caused more than one royal episode. But underneath all of that he was a loyal and caring brother, and he knew Liam like the back of his hand. Liam sighed, setting the mistletoe back in the box.

“That's a yes, Li.”

Liam gave Leo a look that said “yeah, okay, you're right, you want a medal?” and Leo dropped it, rummaging through the box for another ornament. Liam, however, continued to let his mind wander back to that Christmas when he was fifteen and she was fifteen and everything was magical.

Donna was the head baker's daughter, and had caught Liam's attention when one morning, early, he stumbled into the kitchens to get a glass of water, and she'd been there listening to music on a pair of headphones and kneading dough, her hands and arms covered in flour up to her elbows, a smudge of it on her nose and some of it powdered through her long dark hair that had been pulled back into a thick braid. She hadn't seen or heard him come in, and he watched as she danced happily to the music that he couldn't hear, her movements almost allowing him to feel the rythym. She did a spin and when her eyes fell on the prince they widened and her mouth dropped open and he let out a little chuckle at the embarrassed look on her beautiful face. She pulled one ear bud from her ear and cleared her throat. “Um...good morning, your highness, I...”

“Good morning to you, too,” he cut her off with a gentle, calm tone to show her that she wasn't in any trouble and needn't be embarrassed. She smiled appreciatively and he didn't need a mirror to know that his face was flooding with color.

The two of them had made excuses to run into one another plenty of times after that, in the hallways, behind statues, brushing hands and whispering hellos that held so much more. On Christmas morning a few weeks later, while the palace was in a bustle getting ready for the Christmas Ball that evening, he met her in the kitchen and told her to meet him in the maze later that night. She said she'd find a way and smiled as he turned and left. She'd convinced her mother that they should decorate the dessert table with real Holly sprigs, and that she knew of some out in the gardens...near the maze. Her mother of course had been so busy and preoccupied with the several traditional cakes, pies, pastries and other confections expected of her, and waved Donna off. She excitedly grabbed her coat from a peg near the back door of the kitchen and headed out to join him in the maze, heart racing and mind spinning, thinking of his soft, gentle eyes on her face, of her fingers running through his jet black hair, of being closer to him than they could be inside the palace walls.

He stood waiting as she approached to entrance to the maze clutching a small bundle of Holly- she had to go back with something or else her excuse wouldn't hold water- and he felt a nervous excitement rush though his body. Little puffs of white breath were coming from her lips, a deep blue scarf wrapped around her neck and tucked up under her chin, and the cold air coloring her porcelain complexion with a touch of rosy pink- she looked like an angel and he knew this would be his merriest Christmas yet when he reached for her hand and asked her to join him for a stroll through the maze. He'd always thought it would be a great spot for his first kiss, and he hadn't met anyone he'd wanted that to be with until a few weeks ago, when he'd gone for that glass of water.

They wound their way through the hedges, the clear sky full of stars above them, the two of them chatting easily about their day. They reached the center of the maze and Liam turned to her and his  breath caught. It had started snowing and a flake was resting in her eyelashes. He leaned in to brush it off and she nervously leaned in, too, thinking this was it! This was the kiss! Lean it, girl, lean in! Causing them to bonk foreheads.

“Ow! Oh! I'm sorry, Liam...Prince Liam...oh boy...” she covered her face with her hands and spun away from him.

He chuckled to himself, simply happy to know that a kiss was on her mind and that it wasn't just him. He put a gloved hand on her shoulder and gently turned her back to face him. “Are you okay, Donna?” he asked, warmth enough in his almond eyes to melt the snow as it fell.

“Yes...” she whispered, looking up at the young prince in front of her.

“Good. Let's try that again...” he said through his grin.

She smiled sheepishly and rose up on the balls of her feet to meet his lips, one hand placed on his bicep, the other down at her side still clutching the Holly bunch. He ran one hand through her long dark hair, the other on her shoulder, both of them thinking who needs mistletoe? The maze had something more magical than mistletoe.

Thanks for the ask @zaffrenotes 😘

heather - what’s your favourite musical?

Oh man, the hard question! I’m going to say Wicked, because I’ve seen it about 3 times I think (twice here, once in London) and I love so many of the songs and the story :D

But I do also love Mamma Mia (seen twice) and Chicago (well, chicago I don’t like the characters but I like the music so much)

daisy - what’s your best childhood memory?

AHHHH EVEN HARDER. The first one that comes to mind is one I was talking about yesterday, and it’s kind of a series of memories than one particular one. I have so many memories of watching my dad play computer games, of sitting on my parents’ bed behind his desk and watching over his shoulder as he played all these cool games and getting swept up in the stories! I remember watching him play Krondor: Tear of the Gods, which actually inspired me to play it myself and then read the book series, which defined SO MUCH of my reading life (even though I still have’t read the last book in the series, and I have a signed copy from the author lol). And clearly inspired my love of video games in general!