WITCH - The Queen

Chapter 61

Julia

Julia giggled softly as Leopold kissed every spot he could reach. The two had retreated a little deeper into the cave to be undisturbed for a moment. Something that happened far too rarely.

Julia wrapped her arms around Leopold as he ran his hands through her long hair.

"I love you!", he murmured.

"And I love you!" Julia sighed contentedly. If it were up to her, then this moment would last forever.

But then Leopold sighed too and pulled Julia onto his lap. "When do you plan to leave? To the harpies?", he asked.

Julia leaned against him. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" He wrapped his arms around her. "Do you think the storm is over by then?"

"I hope so. This storm has stopped us long enough. But I have to talk to Pelle first. I want to ask him if he will accompany us to the harpies. And then there's Alwin. I don't want to separate the two."

"That's nice of you!" Pelle squinted around the corner with a grin. "You two are cuddling? How cute! May we join?"

Leopold groaned in annoyance. Pelle came over to them grinning with Alwin in tow. "Well!", he said meaningfully. "Don't worry! We won't be separated!" He pressed a kiss to Alwin's cheek. Alwin nodded with a monotone expression.

Julia grinned in amusement. "Of course. Will you two accompany us to the harpies? You don't have to. But after that, we will move on. Through the steppe and into the fairy forest. And further... Will you accompany us?"

Pelle grimaced. "I was there when the harpies stole our eggshells. No, I will not accompany you. Not to the harpies. To avoid trouble. But after that, I'll accompany you. I... I must accompany you. There is no other way." He grinned. "Such a magical covenant is strange. Do you feel the same way? Leopold?"

"Kind of, yes", the elf confirmed. "But in my case, it's a little different."

"I'll come too", Alwin muttered. "To the steppe and then on. I'm going with Pelle." He wrapped his arms around the other dragon and buried his face in Pelle's long hair.

"Thank you!" Julia felt sorry for the two dragons. Pelle had been unexpectedly tied to her. "I appreciate that."

Josefine / Josef

"Your mother was a true blessing!" Blossom stroked Josefine's long hair affectionately. "She helped me raise Hanna. And that even though she also had to take care of her little brother, and she had just lost her girlfriend."

"Mom never told me about it." Josefine leaned against the other dragon. For the sake of the humans, they remained in human form. Josefine found this regrettable. She liked to see the fear on Princess Cleo's face. "She said she had friends. And that the mountains are beautiful. But I didn't know anything about Vicky."

"It's a pity. Maybe Saira had a hard time talking about it."

The two sat together at the cave entrance and watched as the other dragons went about their everyday lives. Some hunted by the river for smaller animals. Others flew into the marshland to plunder the herds of farmers.

A white dragon flew towards them. Trixi. Josefine didn't like the old dragon. She would have liked to ask Trixi for a fight. A soft growl escaped her.

Trixi landed next to them and took human form as well. "I've never been in human form so often", she grumbled. "This body feels strange."

"What do you want here?", Josefine asked angrily. Would Julia mind if she tore Trixi to pieces? Probably.

"Child?" Trixi looked at her skeptically. "Some of my dragons don't feel comfortable with you around them. I hope you know it's special for you to be here? Earlier, a few demanded that we scare you away. Of course, I can't agree with that."

"What?" Blossom shook his head indignantly. "That's not possible! She's still a child!"

"I know. But I'm here to warn you, child." She looked sternly at Josefine. "Don't cause trouble or we'll have to chase you away. There have been complaints about you threatening flying dragons. You are here because of the young witch. You two are guests."

Josefine rolled her eyes. Had she growled at other dragons? Yes! But that's all she had done. Even if her instinct had other desires.

"She's Saira's daughter!", hissed Blossom. "She has our blood! The blood of the white dragons!"

"But she's also a black dragon. Through and through. She smells like a black dragon and not like our blood", Trixi objected.

"And?", Josefine hissed. "Because I don't smell like a white dragon, I can't I be part white? What you claim isn't true. Did I attack another dragon? No! I have myself under control."

"What's stopping you from attacking every single dragon here? That your mother was not attacked by your father was a miracle. It was stupid of her to get involved with a black dragon. Dangerous. So? What's stopping you?"

Josefine had to think about this for a moment. The simple answer was: Julia. What exactly stopped her? Was it the blood of a white dragon? No. Not quite. It was the bond with Julia made possible by the blood of her mother. It remained with the simple answer. There was no other reason. "Julia. Her opinion is important to me."

All these dragons didn't mean anything to her. Whether they lived or not. Of course, she liked to learn more about her mother. That was a nice advantage for keeping them all alive. And she thought Blossom was nice. Unimportant, but nice.

Her mother was family. Just like her uncle. Josefine's mother had always told her that family was important. Therefore, the two were important to her. Peter was also part of the family. And Julia. She loved her friend very much. And Julia's servant? The rest of her family?

Josefine didn't care. She was nice to Julia's friends because they were important to Julia. She acted concerned when they were sad. She fooled around with them. Anything a friend would do. But none of it was real. She imitated.

Josefine was a good actress.

Leopold would also be part of her family one day. Therefore, she did not want to antagonize him. Cleo and Charlotte? She would love to eat them! Especially Cleo. But she didn't. For Julia.

Josefine looked at Trixi, who stood perplexed in front of her. "Only that? The opinion of a young witch?", she murmured. Blossom also seemed taken aback.

Wordlessly, she turned into a black cat, leaving the other two dragons alone. Trixi looked at Josef with her head tilted.

But he didn't care. He followed his nose until he found Julia and Leopold a little deeper in the cave. The two had fallen asleep. Julia snuggled up to Leopold. Josef climbed on Juliet's shoulders and curled up there.

(c: sasi)