While we bake, Reznik wraps every single toy we bought from the troll toymaker, humming while he works. In the whole time I've known him, I've never heard him do something so mundane as hum.
"You make us happy, Mischief," Yaelyn murmurs. "This is the happiest Yule Rez has had in a millennium. Just do yourself a favor and don't ask him to sing any traditional Yule songs. I love that man, but his singing voice is like–"
"A tuba getting caught in a trash compactor with a very angry goose?"
Yaelyn pauses, then grins. "That's surprisingly apt. Want to try the best marranito you've ever had and forgive me for flirting with a baker?"
* * *
I'm surprisinglynervous when we pull up to Shadow House, but Yaelyn picks up on it, and wraps an arm around me.
"Are you worried your dad won't like us, sunshine?"
I shrug. I'm not sure what gnaws away at me, aside from the obvious shards in my chest and the as-of-yet unresolved psychopath-maybe-agent-of-darkness Khadyr thing hanging over my head. Perhaps it's the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to dropkick me in the ass. Today has been toogood. There's no way this lasts, not with the tangle of trouble I've found myself in. Not while knowing I'll never live up to the woman they loved, even if they swear they love me too. Not while knowing I'll have to make an impossible choice before Yuletide's end.
Fuck it. I need to make this night the best of my life, because it may be one of the last I get with my demonkin.
"Nah, worried my dad's going to tell you all sorts of embarrassing stories about me. I was a bratty little shit as a kid."
"And a bratty little menace now," Reznik rumbles with affection.
"You like it."
"Make no mistake, Spark. I adore it. Now, come on before I chuck these presents on the doorstep, and we take you back to the loft to ravish you."
Yaelyn helps me down from the pick-up, then slings an arm around my shoulder, boxes of cookies tucked under his other arm, and leads me up the steps.
I pause when my hand closes around the doorknob, take a deep breath, and then open the door and step into my childhood home.
That is to say: into utter chaos.
* * *
We find a frazzled Aron,dressed as Santa, just as I had guessed he would be, tucking a meager stack of presents beneath the tree. Reznik's donation will easily save Shadow House, but Aron's been operating on a tight budget for years now. So when he sees Reznik laden down with presents and Yaelyn with cookies? He gives me a nod and a thumbs up.
"You passed the test," I whisper to my demonkin.
"I am not above bribing with cookies," Yaelyn says with a grin.
Shrieking children run around the cafeteria Aron converted into a great room, already hyped up on too much sugar and Christmas cheer. And Yaelyn only feeds them more sugar before Reznik lets them ride on his broad shoulders. Shoulders I had my legs thrown over this very morning. I turn away with a blush as Aron comes up behind me.
"Where have you been hiding those two, kiddo?"
"We were on the outs until recently. But things are going really well now. And if they survive one of your Christmas parties, I'll know they're keepers."
He nods to Rez who's doing bicep curls as a little troll girl clings to his arm, giggling every time he lifts her. "I think they'll do just fine." The demon I've known for most of my life considers me for a moment. "You deserve to be happy, Lucy. If they make you happy, I won't do my overprotective dad schtick."
I gasp dramatically. "It's physically possible for you to refrain?"
"With you? Yes. With some of your younger sisters and the idiots they bring home? Shadow realm save me. Some of those boys..."
"Have you been back to the shadow realm lately?" Aron has been rescuing orphans from the realm for years now, and he comes back looking more haggard every time. I should have known something was wrong...
He nods, solemn now. "I've gotten as many kids out as I could, but the realm is crumbling into chaos."
Fuck. What will happen to any kids trapped there when darkness overtakes it completely?
"But tonight's for Christmas cheer. Go find some mistletoe with your men. But keep it PG, all right?"
