PRIDE (Leona x Reader) [Twisted Wonderland]

Chapter 9

Azul Ashengrotto was a student, just like the rest of them. How he was able to own and manage a restaurant at the same establishment he was schooled was beyond you. Maybe his parents had money. But then, Leona was supposedly a prince, and no one here looked at him with near as much reverence as they did the bespectacled, narrow eyed boy before you.

His filtered gaze analyzed you with a practiced criticism. You sidled up to Leona a little bit further. Azul flicked his stare to him instead.

"Aren't you going to buy a drink?" he asked, sounding friendly.

"Sure," Leona said. He tipped up the menu that Azul's tall, narrow-framed server had set in front of you, and picked something out, offhandedly. He handed it to you next, and you read aloud the first thing that sounded good, hoping the tension of the air didn't put too much of a waver in your voice. Azul looked pleased, and the waiter offered a hand to take the menu from you, with a pointed smile that made your bones weak. You got the feeling of being surrounded by sharks.

"Now then. Whatever could you of all people be here for, Leona Kingscholar?"

Leona huffed, displeased, though Azul clearly wasn't mocking him. There was excitement in his fingertips, when he drew his fingers around his wine glass (whatever was in it looked just to be water) and leaned forward on his elbows to take a sip.

"You've never bothered to come to me before, so it must be something good, no?" he looked at you for a fraction of a second, almost enough for you to speak up; you would've if Leona hadn't responded,

"The only thing I need is an access key. To travel outside of the school."

Azul leaned back appraisingly. The waiter returned with your drinks. "Did you lose yours?" Azul murmured, one eyebrow raised. "If so, the staff can easily find it for you."

Leona scowled. "I didn't lose it. I know how to use tracking magic. I'm here to ask for a new one."

"You broke it, then? How did you do that? They aren't easy to break. The only way to manage that is trying to travel somewhere outside of the realms... Which is illegal, of course."

Crowley had a broken key. Was that what he'd been doing?

"I didn't break it," Leona growled. "I just need another one. And I don't see why it'd matter to you why I want it."

Azul didn't disagree aloud. He just drummed his fingers on the table, once, in a row. "They're hard to come by," he said. "Only given out to students once, upon their freshman ceremony attendance."

"I'm sure you can get a hold of one. If you don't already have a stock somewhere."

"Maybe. It would be pricey, though... For me and for you." He seemed like the kind of guy that said that a lot.

"I know," Leona mused, deadpan. "That's what I came here to discuss."

"I don't have a lot of interest in haggling, you know."

Leona's face showed just how much he didn't like this man. You squirmed in your seat.

"W-wait. Shouldn't I be the one to—"

Leona shot you a warning glance of shut up. Maybe he was right about that—he'd warned you before not to make any deals, after all—but you didn't want him making some sort of payment in your place. You didn't have money, though, so... what even could you do?

"I've never seen your friend around," Azul commented, unrelated to the conversation. You wondered if he'd only made the observation now, or had been waiting to bring it up for some time.