(A/N): We're back with Sebastien, Miasenna, and Cipicia, in the hallway outside the children's bedrooms.

Trigger Warnings: Sebastien is very Sebastien. Caliste and Anthophilius are both mentioned, as is their relationship, and the relationship they each have with Cipicia. Daimen Joannis and Sebastien's mother are both mentioned, along with their relationship with their children. Sebastien and Markaisa's relationship is mentioned, as well. Sebastien talks about wanting to break people's spirits, in a very creeptastic way. Allusions/references to rape/sexual assault, along with child abuse, spousal abuse, neglect, and abuse of power. Lots of talk of sex in front of a very young child. Coarse discussion of a severely mentally ill character (Caliste), and allusions to said character being mistreated. Sort of semi-pseudo incest? What actually happened is taboo, but not technically incest. (I wrote this chapter- and subsequently the trigger warning- before I wrote the last chapter, the Elaine chapter, so I wasn't sure whether I explained what happened in that chapter, but since I did, you already know that Cipicia is talking about Isolde, whereas when I wrote this chapter and the context wasn't given, it was a bit up in the air as to whether maybe Sebastien slept with Caliste [which would have been rape, even he admits that], but no. He slept with his stepmother, that's the taboo part.) There's also a bit of flirting between Cipicia and Sebastien, and at one point Sebastien mentions Cipicia's breasts, and their... positioning, I guess?

October 19th, 1967

Sebastien

We returned to Miasenna's bedroom- or just outside it, at least- immediately after having fetched her from the Workshop, the entire journey spent in silence, lest something private be overheard by a servant lurking around somewhere they shouldn't- much like how we had found an unauthorised gathering under Ms Rochester's wing, upon going looking for our daughter. It was concerning, to say the least, and not just because that kind of unrest was bad for the household... but also because Miasenna was both precocious and impressionable, and unfortunately, I didn't think it would take much for someone like that ungovernable governess to turn our heir into a bleeding heart egalitarian, even if centuries of breeding meant that everything in her blood was screaming within her that she was superior. No, I simply couldn't allow something like that to happen... and perhaps I could kill two birds with one arrow, and break Rochester's spirit in the process.

Speaking of birds, Cipicia was being unusually sweet; something had changed in the aftermath of our recent marital relations. I may have forgotten how bashful she tended to get post coitus, but this was different- it wasn't shrouded by the usual detest and distaste she typically exhibited whenever I was around, I suppose. "Dove." Her head tilted back to look up at me, despite the fact that with her heels on, we were much the same height. She blinked at me owlishly with big, blue eyes, and I couldn't help but smile indulgently at the sight- for a woman who had bit my neck with such fervor no more than half an hour ago, she certainly pulled off 'wide-eyed and innocent' well. "Would you like to let us into the boy's bedroom? I believe it might be... beneficial, for our youngest-" Our only, technically, but if I was to keep Leonides as my own should he ever return to us, then I suppose the distinction didn't matter. "-to bare witness to the fact that he truly is..." I trailed off pointedly, and Miasenna glared at me.

"I..." Cipicia swallowed thickly. "Okay," She acquiesced readily enough, and I made sure to flash her a pleased look that made her blush- it was almost too easy. She retrieved her wand from her skirt, and placed the palm of her hand against the wood of the door. There was no incantation, but one wasn't necessary- she had been added to the wards when we'd married, and while I likely could have overridden the spells she'd placed on the room, being the legitimate head of the Joannis household and having the blood to prove it, Cipicia's magic had always been much stronger than mine; I'm sure it was a side effect of her veela heritage- that was, after all, the main reason Anthophilius Meliflua gave when asked about his motives for wanting to father a child with Cipicia's mother. A rare occurrence, considering that the only people who knew what Caliste was were far too afraid of her husband to question him openly.

The door clicked open, but didn't swing inward automatically; I saw the look on her face, her eyes squeezing shut briefly as if she was bracing herself. As long as the door remained closed, she could pretend that Leonides was inside- had been inside, since she brought him home from the hospital the day before; unfortunately for her, I didn't have the time for sentimentality and 'what could have been', so I reached out and put my hand over hers, pushing the door open as I did so.

I didn't visit my children's bedrooms very often- I'd never had any reason to; in fact, the last time I distinctly remembered seeing more than a glimpse of this room was when we had redecorated a few years ago. I'd been expected to sign off on the decisions for decorations, despite my lack of interest, so I had taken a brief run-through of both of the rooms; perhaps I would have been more interested if the change hadn't been brought on by Isolde redecorating the house I had grown up in for the hundredth time. Markaisa never seemed to mind whenever our father's new wife decided to render our childhood home even further unrecognisable- possibly because she'd never considered it home.

Leonides's room looked much the same now as it had when I had walked through it last, other than the disarray. The corner of the rug was kicked up, and there was some... what looked like ash, almost, on the floor. More worryingly, there was shattered glass, and a strange goo splattering one of the walls- and when I stepped into the room, I was hit with a strong herbal, antiseptic smell. "Hm. Some clean up appears to be necessary." I turned to look back at Cipicia and found her and Miasenna still standing in the doorway, peering around as though they were expecting- hoping- Leonides would jump out from behind the bed frame or something. "Do you two plan on joining me, or are you just going to stand there and watch me do all the work?" Cipicia blinked heavily, then something seemed to change, and she rolled her eyes at me as she strolled leisurely across the threshold.

"Who knows- it might do you good to have to make an effort, for once." I arched an eyebrow at her, and her cheeks pinkened.

"I think you'd agree that I made quite the effort earlier, darling." Miasenna made a sort of outraged gagging noise that I figured had to be instinctual, since she undoubtedly knew what the consequences for such a thing would usually be.

Cipicia's cheeks turned red and she crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up quite wonderfully in the process. She took notice of where my focus had diverted to and the corner of her lips curved upward, but I couldn't be sure whether it was the start of a smile or a scowl. Knowing Cipicia, both options we just as likely as each other. "I've had more attentive lovers," She drawled, which she had to know was a dangerous thing to say to someone like me. "But you were available- convenient- and willing to give me what I wanted, the way I needed it." Miasenna looked like she was actively attempting to repress this memory as it was forming, so I was free to chuckle lowly at Cipicia's statement.

"My tutors did say I had issues with attention. Before my father fired them, of course." She rolled her eyes at me ostentatiously.

"Paying attention, or wanting attention?" She asked wryly. "I suppose you were just as needy as a child as you are now."

I arched an eyebrow at her again, and the color returned to her cheeks. "Bit rich of you to call me needy." The flush suddenly took on an angry air. "Present proclivities aside, if I were to guess which one of us was the needier child..." I trailed off, reaching out to brush some hair out of her face. "At least I had a father that had the decency to contract out any punishments I may need." Now, she definitely did scowl at me.

"At least I had a mother who loved me," She fired back, as if that was some sort of winning blow- it likely would have been, coming from anyone else.

"At least I had a mother who isn't away with the fairies." Her jaw dropped open, even as she glared at me with all the intensity of a wounded predator. "My mother may have been a heartless witch, but she had one advantage that yours doesn't- she was sane. Your mother hardly knows who's talking to her at any given moment... the only reason she loves you is because she can barely remember who you are. She-"

She cut me off as the palm of her hand made contact with my cheek- a good solid blow that made my head snap to the side and my cheek smart something fierce. She brought her arm back to slap me again, but I grabbed her wrist in a tight grip to prevent her from doing so. "You leave my mother out of this," She snapped quietly, very nearly menacingly- what pushed it over the edge was the way her eyes flashed silver as she did so; they hadn't done that in years... I'd almost missed it.

"Tit for tat, darling. You bring my mother into things, and I do yours." She threw me a look of begrudging agreement, before her lips pulled upward into a sneer, and she pinned me with a look of pure disgust.

"And you'd know all about 'doing' mothers, wouldn't you, Sebastien?"

(A/N): Egalitarian = a person who advocates or supports the principle of equality for all people, or believing in or based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

Away with the fairies = giving the impression of being mad, distracted, or in a dreamworld. (British Slang)

This chapter is called 'Schrodinger's Lion', because much like Schrodinger's Cat, even though Cipicia technically KNEW what lay inside Leonides's bedroom (AKA, destruction and no Leonides), it was still technically impossible to prove such a thing, without opening the door and looking inside. Once she did so, any minute chance that he might be in their died, much like Schrodinger's Cat might.

I finished writing chapter 595 a few hours ago, and I started writing chapter 596 immediately after, which is a new POV for me... and even though I've only written like half a page, I must say that this particular character is being unsurprisingly cooperative, unlike when I tried to write Sebastien and Tarea for the first times. This person is, however, a lot nicer than those two, so I suppose that's- not to be expected, exactly, but I'm glad it fits their personalities.