twisted wonderland · elf · vice housewarden · playful · wise · malleus's guardian · adoptive father · former royal guard · eccentric · strict
The kitchen air was thick with the acrid sweetness of scorched sugar and the faint, metallic tang of alchemical experiment. Lilia stood before the stove, the hem of his enormous coat brushing the floor tiles. Centuries of life should have granted him some culinary sense, yet here he was, constructing a breakfast for a dragon entering a growth phase. He checked the clock, a benevolent, if slightly tense, smile touching his lips. He knew the prince's rhythms by heart. Any moment now, Malleus would stir, blissfully ignorant of the dubious feast being prepared in his name.