Page 93 of A Phoenix Reborn at Christmas

Percival didn’t speak for several seconds. “Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. I suppose I could have allowed my uncle to keep running it. Despite being a horrible uncle and father, he wasn’t the worst boss. He never yelled at his subordinates like he did at us. As long as the factory was running smoothly, he could be a decent boss.”

Percival paused. “But I just kept thinking of Nix seeking me out in the bakery. I want to make the factory better for those who work there. I want them to have better working conditions. I want them to be happy.”

“That’s a noble goal,” Leo said.

“I’ll miss working with you in the bakery though.” Percival hesitated. “Maybe once the factory is running properly, I can put someone else in charge sometimes and I can work in the bakery again. At least every now and then.”

Leo smiled. “I’d like that.”

They walked silently for several minutes, Leo’s arm firmly around Percival’s waist. Leo let out a breath, beyond grateful to be loved and remembered by the phoenix beside him.

“What about Cyprian? Why did you decide to take him in?” Leo asked.

Percival looked down at his hand. He pulled it back slightly so he could peer down at his fluffy orange cousin. Right now, the phoenix chick slept against Percival’s chest. “I want to give him a chance.” He patted Cyprian with a finger.

“Rebirth is a new beginning for us. It’s a chance to be someone different.” Percival’s brows furrowed. “It’s hard to explain. It’s us but not us. In some ways, we are like an echoof our previous selves resonating into the new. We have our memories from our previous life, but they are simultaneously ours and not ours. Sometimes it feels like those memories happened to someone else.

“After rebirth, often we can be similar to who we were in a previous life.” Percival shrugged. “Other times we are not. After rebirth, our personalities are much more malleable. That’s why my uncle could change me so much. Why he could mould me and make me so different from who I’d been compared to all my previous lives.”

Percival dropped his hand. “I’d like to give Cyprian a chance to be better. After all, he’s never had that.” Percival stopped walking. He faced Leo.

Leo halted. “What is it?”

“I have not been reborn since yesterday, but I have changed.” Percival stared intensely into Leo’s eyes. “I have all my memories back. All of them. And that has changed who I am. I am not as soft or sweet as I was yesterday. I mean… I’m still that phoenix. But I’m also not. I now have some of the toughness my uncle instilled in me.”

Percival shook his head. “Not that I want to be as tough or mean-spirited like I was in my last life. I don’t want that at all! I hate who I was. But some of it…”

Leo stared at Percival, trying to follow what he was saying but struggling to understand his point. Or why he seemed so nervous.

Percival let out a breath. “Some of that me is still here now. I couldn’t have stood up to my uncle without that strength.” His frown deepened. “It’s just… I’m not the same phoenix you…” He shook his head.

“Percy, what are you trying to say exactly?” Leo stepped in closer, holding Percival’s shoulders. “What’s worrying you?”

“Do you still love me?” Percival’s orange eyes burned into Leo’s.

“What?” Leo blinked.

“I am not who I was yesterday when you loved me. I’m tougher. I’m stronger. I’m harsher. You saw how I talked to my uncle. I couldn’t have done that a day ago. And there are layers that weren’t there before, layers I’m only just unpacking. You only know part of me, Leo. There is so much more you don’t know and haven’t seen.” Percival swallowed. “So do you still love me?”

“Percy!” Leo stroked Percival’s warm red hair. “Of course I still love you.”

“Are you sure?” Percival’s eyes searched Leo’s face. “But you don’t know all of me! So how do you know if you still love me?”

Leo licked his lips. “I understand that you aren’t exactly who you were yesterday. There are new parts to you. I get that. But the parts of you I love are still so clearly there.” Leo smiled. “And yes, you were hard with your uncle. But that arsehole deserved it!”

Percival huffed a laugh.

“And maybe you aren’t as soft and sweet as you were a day ago.” Leo squeezed Percival’s shoulders with his hands. “But I’ve seen so much kindness in you in the last couple of hours. You took over a factory to give those working there better lives. You took in Cyprian, your cousin who tried to murder you twice, to give him a chance at being better.”

Leo cupped Percival’s cheek. “You’ve got such a big heart, Percy. I love that. And I love you. Maybe I don’t know all the layers of you yet. But I can’t wait to discover them all and fall even more in love with you.”

“Leo.” Percival breathed the word. He wrapped an arm around Leo, whilst the other hand still cradled the phoenix chick between them. He leaned forward and kissed Leo.

Ebony clicked. Cyprian, seeming to have awoken, trilled.

But Percival and Leo just kept kissing as the snow fell.

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