Score Card
Age: 19

"Do you think they've figured out I'm a witch, yet?"

The voice was soft in his ear, breath warm against Cedric's neck. Or it would have been, had his robe not been pulled up so high to hide certain...marks.

"They will if you keep whispering the word that loudly," Cedric quietly whispered back. And then added a teasing afterthought, "witch."

He could picture the way Sofia's lips curled up in a smirk. Her skirts whispered around her (long, flexible) legs as she rounded the pew to sit daintily beside him.

"You're late. And sitting in the back."

She gave him a flat look as she said, "and sitting next to the castle heathen."

"It's going to do terrible things to your reputation."

"It's the smallest thing I've done in the past few hours that could most condemn me."

Cedric couldn't fight back the flush in his cheeks at her airy tone. Sofia struggled to contain a victorious smile.

The Priest droned on through the exact same verbiage as he had since coming to the country and charming his way into the royal family and then the royal court and then the royal servants and then the common folk and so on and so forth. Sofia had converted. It had been expected of her. Cedric hadn't expected her to throw herself into his arms that same night, nor had he expected to celebrate Beltane with her in a sacred circle a few days later. Now, Yule was nearly upon them and Sofia's prowess for magic had grown and grown.

Her prowess for other things had grown, too. But that was another thought.

Another, very distracting thought.

Cedric cleared his throat quietly and shifted in his seat. The polite foot of space between the two of them felt miles long after being so close to her less than an hour ago. Pressed against her, a slender calf in hand as he -

The congregation stood. Cedric fumbled to his feet a few seconds late.

"Are you alright, Mr. Cedric?" Sofia asked in a guileless tone loud enough for those around them to hear her.

Cedric surreptitiously flicked his hand to the side and Sofia suddenly straightened her spine, a gasp escaping before she firmly pressed her lips together.

"Fine, your highness. Just lost in the sermon. The idea of keeping the Savior at the focus of every action, it had me reflecting on my morning ablutions and how I can better focus them."

Sofia blushed and exhaled, controlling the rising color in her cheeks through force of will and ebbing the color away from her delicate porcelain skin.

Excellent. They were tied.

And that's all you get because I should absolutely be wrapping presents and yet, here I am.

Hey! I'm not dead! My 9 month old son is finally FINALLY sleeping through the night. Mostly. My 2.5 year old daughter is a tiny heathen terrorist with moments of adorable love and light that keeps her alive, my 5.5 year old daughter is doing virtual school and got the highest grade in her class on an evaluation and she's using her powers for evil/awesome instead of good. I'm exhausted, y'all. But about 3 weeks ago I had a dream about writing Sofia fanfiction again, no joke. The planets finally aligned and I had some time tonight so here we are.

I swear I haven't abandoned Riches. I will finish it.

This story has dual inspiration - Jessibelle811 posted a bit about a Christian-like religion being an issue for Cedric and other magic users in Enchancia. That, and hey *waves* I'm slowly coming out of the broom closet as I figure out what faith works for me and witchcraft/paganism seems to be the ticket.

My son is the only good thing to come out of this dumpster fire of a year. If you're reading this, show some care for your fellow humans and wear a mask when you're out in public. Here's to effective vaccines, herd immunity, and sanity returning in 2021.