Chapter 16 #2
Hyperion turns toward me slowly, his expression utter disbelief.
He’s learned a lot about being human in a single night.
I’m not sure I can handle the kind of nightmare he’ll become in another week or two.
I fear Asteria’s right. Coral, the crabbiest of all the small people, is turning him into her big, meaty clone.
Alright, I say. We have to go to sleep or Santa Claus won’t come.
“That’s not real,” Asteria says. “It’s a made-up story.”
I roll my eyes. Get out, all of you, and let me go back inside.
“We’re not stopping you,” Gordon says.
Shift, I command as I do the same. Then I climb the steps up to my room, and I slide into bed beside my sleeping bonded.
Santa Claus may not really be coming, but under the tree that everyone decorated without me, there are a dozen gifts that say they’re for Liz.
. . From the ‘real’ Santa Claus, who flies through the night.
It’s hours and hours before the first rays of dawn appear, and that’s when Liz gasps loudly and sits up. “It’s Christmas!” She beams, rubbing her eyes. Then she turns to me. “Wait.” She blinks. “What happened? Did it work?”
“Hyperion’s hideous,” I say.
She laughs. “It did?” And then she bursts into tears. “This is the best Christmas ever.” She hugs me, and I’m not inclined to argue with her. “You’re amazing, and I love you, Axel.”
My heart swells, or it feels like it does. “Thank you.”
She shoves back, frowning. “No, that’s not what you say.”
“You said I’m amazing.” I blink. “Why is that not what I should say? I thought expressing gratitude was polite.”
“But I also said something else.”
I stare at her.
“I said I loved you.” She thumps my chest. “You have to say, ‘I love you too, Liz.’”
“If I have to say it, then does it really mean anything?” I smile.
This time, she doesn’t thump me. My little warrior punches me as hard as she can. “Yes, that’s what you say.” She stands up on the bed, and she spreads her legs, her hands out. “Unless you want a fight on your hands, a fight I don’t think you can handle.”
This feels like my Christmas present. I stand too, enjoying the added complication of the unsteady footing of this human bed. “Okay.” I smile. “Go ahead. I might enjoy fighting you as much as I enjoy hugging you.”
Her eyes flash, and she strikes, her hand hitting my shoulder. I spin her around, shoving her down on the bed, and straddling her hips. I drop my face by her ear. “How long do you want to do this before you surrender?”
She snaps at my face, like she might bite me. “I’ll never surrender.”
“And that’s why I love you, Elizabeth Chadwick,” I whisper. “Forever. In every form, in every time, even without all my memories, I just fall for you all over again. I think I loved you, even before I found this body again, because you are surprisingly, unexpectedly, exactly what I need.”
She freezes, and then, somehow, she flips around underneath me. Her hands snake around my head, and they pull me down toward her. When our mouths meet, something inside of me roars to life. Mine, it shouts. Mine!
She kisses me back just as fiercely, and I realize that I’m lost. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do next. And in the early morning light, Liz shows me exactly what to do.
It’s fast.
It’s slow.
It’s perfect.
And then she closes her eyes and falls asleep again on my arm. I’d rather die than move in that moment. But like all moments, like time itself, it’s slippery. It doesn’t last.
As the rays of the sun beat down harder and harder, Liz’s eyes finally open and she smiles. “I love you, Axel.”
I smile. “Thank you.”
This time, she bites her lip, and she shakes her head.
“I’d love another training session, since you clearly have trouble learning things the first time, but we don’t have time.
It’s Christmas morning.” She springs out of the bed, and she grabs her clothes, and she ducks into the bathroom.
I dress while she’s gone. When she emerges, clean and dressed, she’s still smiling.
“Is that what you don’t want Hyperion to do with your sister?”
She coughs.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“It is a yes,” she says. “An emphatic one. As humans, we don’t do. . .” She coughs again. “That until we’re adults.”
I nod.
“Wait, is that not close to what dragons do when they mate?”
I laugh. “Uh, no. Nothing like that. When we fly, our bodies entwine, and our magic spills over, and then. . . I’m not entirely sure, never having done it, but it’s not like that.”
She reaches over and grabs my hand. “Let’s go.”
“This is when we open gifts?” I ask.
She snorts. “Yes, and don’t worry, there’s one under there for you.”
“You managed to shield it from me,” I say. “Nicely done.”
“Just the wrapping,” she says. “I did the rest before we entwined.”
“Smart,” I say.
When we reach the tree with lights in the large room, we aren’t alone. The kids—Sammy, Coral, and Jade—are already there. Gideon and Liz’s parents shuffle in just as we do, and I hear a snort, a shuffle, and a grunt from the porch.
Liz rolls her eyes. “Tell them to come inside already.”
“Not Hyperion,” I say. “He got last night. That means that I get this morning.”
“It takes you three seconds to shift,” Liz says. “Take a gamble and let him be human, too. It’s worth the risk.”
It takes us a few moments to convince him, and really, it’s Coral who does it, but eventually they all shift and come inside.
I shouldn’t even be surprised that Gordon’s dressed like Santa Claus in red and white clothing with white trim.
“Sammy said I could pass out presents.” He’s beaming. “It’s apparently a big honor.”
Liz is laughing so hard, and Coral’s taking so many photos that I don’t have the heart to tell him no.
“Fine,” I say. “Whatever.”
Of course, since Gordon can’t read, Sammy has to help him. Between the two of them, they manage to pass everything out. We wind up with a lot more presents than I expected.
Coral and Jade love their Uggs, which Euphrasia was happy to clean.
Sammy likes the dragon Legos. Liz’s mother smiles when she opens her floral caftan.
Her father thanks her for the tie, which is apparently a bizarre scrap of fabric men wear around their necks for no clear reason.
This one has ducks on it. Gideon hands Liz a gift after most of the kids have opened theirs.
It bothers me.
A lot.
“I have something too,” I say. “Open mine first.”
“Mine’s very small,” Gideon says. “I promise.”
Liz nods her head at me, and I relent. “Fine.”
She opens the small box, and then she frowns. “I don’t understand.”
“That’s the chess piece—the king, I think.” Gideon chuckles. “Do you remember that day, the Chess Club President?”
Liz’s face turns pink. “My first kiss.”
Gideon nods. “I took the king that day, picked it up off the floor. When you and I finally got together, I meant to give you that and tell you ‘checkmate.’”
Liz frowns. “But I’m—”
“With Axel.” Gideon clears his throat. “I know. And I’m not saying checkmate.
I’m giving you that, because it’s clear that you’ve found your real mate.
” His eyes are sad. “And it’s not me. I think the reason I handled things so badly, the reason I got so confused, is that I couldn’t accept that it wasn’t me.
” He sighs, and he looks me in the eye. “But it’s not.
And I think the guy you chose. . .he’s unconventional, but he’s also probably just right for you. ”
It’s a good gift. Even I can see that.
“I’ll open yours now.” Liz reaches for one of the bags. “Which one should I open first?”
My shoulders slump. “It doesn’t matter. None of them are that good.”
“I’m sure they’re great.” She reaches into the first bag and pulls her hand out slowly, her eyes widening. “What is this?” She holds the pinkish rock up, eyeing it through the light.
“It’s a diamond,” I say. “That one’s pink, but I found some blue ones, and a lot of boring clear ones.”
Coral’s jaw drops.
Jade squeals.
“Are you saying all these bags are full of diamonds?” Liz’s mom asks.
I blink. “Well, I would’ve gotten something else, but the only thing I recall Liz saying women liked was diamonds.”
“Did you get me one?” Coral asks.
“Well, sure.” I hand her one of the bags.
“Wait.” Liz snatches it back. “I thought you said these were for me.”
“I can get you more,” I whisper. “It seems like she wants one.”
It turns out, Coral, Jade, and Liz’s mother all want one. Or more than one. My diamonds are a big hit.
“But does this violate the terms of our agreement?” Liz is staring at one of the diamonds, the clearest, sparkliest one. “Because I’d hate for Australia to get upset.” She doesn’t look too concerned they might be upset. The bond doesn’t feel like she’s upset.
I answer her anyway. “No, we only promised that all the diamonds we found in the Argyle, Merlin, and Ellendale mines would go to them. They haven’t even found the best areas for those rocks.”
Sammy’s whispering something.
“Sure,” Gordon says. “I can find you some. You like them too?”
Liz’s smallest sibling’s eyes light up. “I’m going to be rich! Rich as a pirate!”
Everyone laughs, at least, all the humans do. I’m not sure we quite understand the joke. I thought pirates lived on boats and stole from people. I was unaware they were rich.
Then Liz hands me a small, wrapped package. “Here.”
“What is it?” I run my hands over it. It’s so small, I’m not sure what it could be.
“Open it.” She’s watching closely, so I have to at least pretend to like it even if I don’t. It’s especially hard to fool her, with our bond.
I do unwrap it, careful that I don’t destroy whatever’s underneath.
It’s a book, a small, brown book. When I open the first page, I realize it’s all in her handwriting.
You may have been wearing strange clothing, but the first time I saw you, I thought you were the handsomest man I had ever seen. In spite of that, I immediately began devising ways to kill you.
None of them worked.
I did manage to stick the end of a broken umbrella, which is a device we use to protect ourselves from getting wet when it rains—
I look up. “This is—what is it?”
“I wrote down all our best memories,” she says. “I know you’ve forgotten them, but I haven’t.”
I’d been mocking everyone else, but now it’s my turn to leak. The others aren’t merciful about it. I find that I don’t even care. As we all sit down to eat scrambled eggs, bacon—over Liz’s mother’s protests— and biscuits, I feel. . .overwhelmed. “I love Christmas,” I say.
“Me too,” Asteria says. “It’s my favorite day of the year. And thank you, Liz, for the best present of all.” She doesn’t say she wouldn’t have enjoyed or understood it if she had to wait outside.
We all know it’s true.
“I agree,” Hyperion says.
We’ve barely started eating when George, the Prime Minster, dashes up the steps of our porch. “Happy Christmas,” he says. “But I have bad news. The vanir are attacking Vancouver.”
The better the moment, the less time it lasts, apparently.