"Spark, I like you stabby. I like that half the shinies in your collection are weapons. Don't ever change."
He really does say the sweetest things.
* * *
I don't knowhow (or when) Rez found this Christmas–sorry,Yule–tree farm, but it'sperfect. In that “small town Christmas tree farm a Hallmark movie hero would be trying to save while teaching some big-city corporate bad bitch the meaning of Christmas and true love” way. That kind of perfect. Fuck, it even snows a little while we're there. Just enough to make it magical. We walk through the snow-dusted aisles, hand-in-hand, one of my demonkin on each side of me. They donned their glamours the moment we stepped out of the loft, so I'm the only one who gets to enjoy just how ludicrous it looks for two horned demonkin to be judging trees like they're snotty judges on a cooking show.
They're so picky! And truly, I want to do this every year with them until I'm old and gray. I want to listen to them squabble about whether a tall tree is better than a full one, whether a Douglas or Fraser Fir will look better in the loft. It's special in how mundane it is, how domestic, and I can't wait to decorate whatever tree they pick out.It feels me up with sunshine, just like that hug-from-the-inside the shards do.
If the tree farm was out of a Christmas movie, the little kin Yule Market in northern Pennsylvania must have been plucked from my imagination. It’s loud and colorful, full of bright twinkling lights and the tinkling of sleigh bells. Spice scents the snow-crisp air, like pomanders and warm mulled wine and gingerbread fresh out of the oven. Banners, paper chains, and fairy lights are strung between stalls and it’s… it’s Christmas and Yule and everything perfect in the world right now.
And it’s full of every type of kin imaginable. Shifters cooking skewers of meat over bonfires, witches in pointed black hats serving mulled wine and cider, trolls selling hand-carved wooden toys.
“Kin town,” Yaelyn explains as Rez parks the pickup. “Some pretty strong magic keeps the humans away, so kin can be themselves, no glamours. This time of year, they cater to the multitude of winter traditions of various tribes, clans, packs, covens, et cetera.”
He helps me down from the pickup and that’s when I see a distant stall, glittering like a disco ball.
I can’t help it. I sprint through the parking lot, until pain cracks in my chest like it’s trying to break me open. A howl of pain rips from my throat and I collapse to my knees, sharp gravel cutting through my jeans.
Rez rushes over to me, propelling himself with his wings, and scoops me up into his arms.
"Fu-uccck," I mutter. Can these damn shards give me a break? I wasn't trying to run away from either of my demonkin protectors. The pain drains from me slowly as they soothe me, but I stay close to them as we make our way through the crowd of kin to the little ornament stall. I feel more drained than I did the last time I tried to get away from them. One thing's for sure. The first moment alone I get, I'm talking some sense into those stubborn stones.
To make me feel better, or perhaps to keep me from pocketing some of the blown and cut-glass creations, Reznik buys me every single shiny ornament I coo over, even though it's enough for at least two Yule trees. I don't miss the sun catchers he sneaks the cashier with a murmur and a fistful of cash, either. Was he this sweet to Lux? Sweet, timid Lux who probably didn't swear like a sailor or make sex toy jokes about arcane artifacts. Fuck, I need to stop thinking about her.
"Yule food?" I suggest.
We split a piece of fruit cake (foul, the worst), some roasted meat (delicious), and down orc mead that makes me feel light and fuzzy. Yaelyn picks up a bûche de Noël to take to the party tonight—though the moment we step away from the brownie's stall, he swears it won't be as good as his. Reznik insists on picking up toys for the children at Shadow House and if my heart wasn't already full to the brim, it'd grow three sizes as we carefully fill the back of the pickup with boxes. Rez hoists the tree over one shoulder (show off) while they snap the tonneau cover over the boxes full of toys, ornaments, and trinkets, and then the troll who sold us the toys helps him tie the tree back down on top of the cover.
It's a scene out of the weirdest, most perfect, beautiful Christmas/Yule card ever, and I am endlessly grateful that I’m the maniac thief that barreled into their lives.
CHAPTER7
LUCY
We quickly learn that I should NOT have been put in charge of trimming the Yule tree. Though, when Rez moves an ornament and I fuss at him, we learn that there really was no other option.
"You really are like a little magpie," he teases. "But I'm going to insist on putting on the star myself."
"We didn't get one!" I realize with a pout.
The demon just shakes his head and goes to a wall safe hidden behind a painting in the hall. These guys are so damn bougie. I love it. But the moment the safe door is cracked, I know what's inside it: the third sun shard in their possession.
"Trust me not to steal it?" I goad.
"You'd have to steal me and Yaelyn along with it, and I trust that, while you're a brilliant thief, that's a bit beyond your capabilities.
It stings a bit that he doesn't wholly trust me, but he shouldn't. Because given the chance, I probablywouldsteal the shard. There's still Khadyr to be dealt with, after all.
Naturally, Rez doesn't need a step stool to reach the top of the tree. The shard glows in his hands like he's captured the world's brightest firefly, then floats to the very top of the tree. It's perfect, its brilliant light shining down on the ornaments and catching every facet and bauble until the whole thing is just so... "Shiny," I breathe.
Rez comes over to survey our work then tucks me under his arm, holding me to his side. He takes in the tree, but when he murmurs the word "beautiful," it’s me he’s looking at.
"Lick the spoon, Mischief?" Yae asks from the kitchen, then shakes his head when he senses where my thoughts went. "How the hell did you take that as innuendo?"
"Talent?"
"Youarepretty talented with that mouth of yours. Now come help me roll this dough in powdered sugar."
