Leonard Coleridge is many things.

A craftsman and an engineer, a scholar of magic and mechanics, an older brother, a friend, a mentor.

An artist, however, he is not.

The porcelain is supple and foreign in his hands, refusing to take the shape he wants it to. There is a small pile of ruined faces in the corner, cracked in the kiln, unevenly glazed, features distorted by fire and Leonard’s inexperience.

Still, his fingers move over the wet surface, guided by magic and love. The features he knows by heart are molded and cut into the material until they are true to life, every tiny wrinkle, every unnoticeable imperfection.

He sets the new row of faces in the kiln, hopeful, and instead of resting, goes on to work on the joints. Those are more familiar, honed through hundreds of creations, but even that finesse is not enough for him now.

In two days, he needs to start the spellbinding, and that means the body has to be ready by then – has to be flawless. A week, to create a masterpiece.

A week, to have somebody be born anew.

He doesn’t sleep – doesn’t need to. Magic can take care of a lot of things, after all. He works, and works – because what have been the years of studying for, if not this?

The workshop is a mess of books, notes, and half-finished parts. He melts adamantine tools and dismantles old clockworks, draws thin wires of gold and copper, assembles the delicate fingers under a looking glass, and it’s still not enough.

Someone bangs on the door. He ignores it.

He paints the masks the way he remembers her from way back – slightly faded freckles, a healthy rosiness of the cheeks, lips the colour of her favourite lipstick. He measures the paint on the scales so her porcelain skin is even. It will never look like flesh, but Leo tries to make the seams unnoticeable, tries to keep all the mechanics inside.

It’s for Faye, and he’s failed her enough already.

It’s for Faye, and she deserves nothing less than perfection.

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Obligatory Faye and Leo masterlist: Misfortune Shared, Fever, Like clockwork and Handmade Miracles, Promise