Page 79 of A Phoenix Reborn at Christmas
No one answered him.
“Percy!” a man shouted and ran towards him from the back area of the bakery.
Percival rounded on him.
Why does everyone keep calling me Percy?
But Percival immediately recognised the man who’d shouted at him. Yes. He clearly remembered this insolent little prick.
What is his name? Leopold. That’s right!
Percival sneered. “You! Were you behind this?”
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Leo heard shouting as he and Grady entered the bakery. He froze.
Percy. It’s Percy shouting!
Dropping the crate of supplies, be bolted to the front of the bakery. Smoke lingered in the air, burning his throat.
Briar, Wulfric, and Jack stood around Percival, whose clothes had been severely scorched. Leo’s heart lurched into his throat.
“Percy!” Leo sprinted towards him.
Then Percival turned on Leo, face twisted with rage. “You! Were you behind this?” His eyes flashed.
Leo stumbled to a halt. “What?” he stuttered. “What are you talking about?” He took a step towards Percival. “What’s wrong?” Leo reached for him.
Percival slapped Leo’s hand away with the back of his hand. “Don’t you dare touch me!”
Leo’s mouth fell open. His hand fell limply to his side, skin stinging from where Percival had hit him. “I don’t understand.” His voice wavered. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? You’ve had me baking and cleaning! You’ve taken advantage of me losing my memory.” Percival took astep towards him, eyes narrowing. “You made me work like a servant.”
“No!” Leo shook his head. “No. That’s not what happened. Don’t you remember? I mean… Well, you wanted to work. You see— You had nowhere— I—” He couldn’t finish a sentence. “You are happy here.” A smile spasmed across his lips. “We are happy here. You and I?—”
Percival laughed, scorn dripping from the sound. “Me? Happy here? In this bakery in Hovel Quarter? Preposterous!”
Leo’s lips tingled. “You don’t remember.” A cold numbness spread through his limbs. “You don’t remember any of it. You’ve forgotten. How…” His legs shook, eyes searching Percival’s. “You don’t remember me.”
“Oh, I remember you!” Percival spat. “You’re an insolent little baker. No manners. No decency. Just a cocky little shit. I buy pies from you.”
Every word was like a blade sliding deeper into Leo’s heart. “Pies.”
Grady stepped forward. “Let’s take a breath and take a moment.” Grady kept talking. But Leo couldn’t make out the words. His ears rang.
“Pies,” Leo repeated. “That’s all I am to you?”
Percy doesn’t remember me.
Somehow, Percival had gone back in time to when all Leo had been to him was the man who sold him pies. And he’d hated Leo then. He hated Leo now. The phoenix he loved hated him.
Thick pain like bile rose from his gut, into his chest and throat, choking him. Stepping forward, he reached for Percival, desperate for the phoenix to look at him with eyes filled with love instead of hatred. “Percy, please!” he begged.
“Stop calling me that!” he shouted, recoiling from Leo and his touch. “I am Lord Percival Everflame! Don’t you forget that, you snivelling worm!”
