As they moved down the hall, Pat kept shooting him glances out of the corner of his eye. Nick got the impression that the twitchy little elf was dying to ask him something, but too scared to. It was funny, but he was also curious what Pat was wondering about.
“Something you want to ask me?” he said, raising his brow when Pat shook his head.
“No, sir. Not really,” Pat said, clearly lying through his teeth, speeding up his walk. Nick kept going at the same pace, forcing Pat to slow down when he realized that Nick wasn’t following.
“Really?” Nick asked, his voice low and warning. Pat looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide. He waited until Nick was next to him before speaking.
“It’s just… did you talk to Billy last night? I mean—"
“I did,” Nick interrupted. It was sweet of Pat to be worried for his friend. “I told him that I expect him to warn me next time something like that is going to happen, and that he should consider himself officially reprimanded.”
At least Nick thought that’s what he’d said. He’d been a little busy drooling over Billy to really pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth.
“And that’s… it?” Pat asked. Nick wondered what Pat had thought he would do. Sure, Nick had intended to rip into Billy and yell at him for making him look like a fool—and for it to serve as a lesson to all the other elves—but with the evening going in a very different direction, he didn’t want there to be even a hint that he had abused his position.
Billy had come to him willingly and of his own power. The last thing Nick needed on his second day was for people to think he’d pressured Billy into doing something against his will as some form of punishment.
“Yes. Billy seems like a very nice young man, and I rather liked him. I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.”
Pat’s face twisted in confusion, and then he gave Nick a look like he suspected Nick was playing some sort of trick on him.
What was it with this castle and playing tricks?
“You do?”
Nick had to force himself not to scowl. “I do. Why? Do you find that strange?”
Pat blanched, and Nick made no effort to mask the stern look on his face. He didn’t like the idea of anyone speaking ill of Billy.
“Billy is great,” Pat said, choosing his words carefully. “Everyone likes him. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you like him too.”
Nick nodded, not sure how he was supposed to take offense. He had no trouble believing that everyone liked Billy. The young elf struck him as being both pleasant and kind, and Nick had no doubt that he had more friends than he knew what to do with.
Nick didn’t have many friends, preferring to go it alone. It wasn’t just that he was an alpha—though that was certainly part of it—but a personality trait that had shown itself long before he presented.
“How often did the last Santa channel magic into the castle?” Nick asked, changing the subject. He had the lingering feeling that Pat’s surprise had more to do with him than it did with Billy, and he wasn’t sure if he was pleased or offended that Pat thought it unlikely that he would like someone.
Pleased, he decided. Nick liked to project an image of ruthless superiority and competence. Being seen as any kind of softie was not part of his plan.
“About every week for the first two hundred years, but these last few decades he was doing it every other day. Are you familiar with the process?”
Nick scowled, mortally offended by the question. He glared atPat and curled his lip in a snarl. Of course he knew how to channel the magic into the castle. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been made Santa, would he?
“I mean, obviously you know how it works, you’re Santa, but I just mean—"
“Shut up,” Nick barked, making Pat flinch, “I know how it works. I’ve had all the necessary training.”
Of course, he’d imagined himself channeling the magic into Krampus’s mountain rather than Santa’s castle, but the actual process was the same.
“I know, sir. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that—"
“I thought I told you to shut up,” Nick growled. There was no getting around the fact that he needed a guide to show him how things were done around the castle, but what exactly would Pat had done if Nick didn’t know how to work the magic? He was an elf; it wasn’t like he could show Nick how it was done.
“Sorry, sir,” Pat said, sounding very subdued. Nick would have felt bad, if he weren’t so offended.
They walked the rest of the way to the channeling chamber in silence, trudging up the stairs without saying a word, and when they entered Nick walked up to the platform in the middle of the room without even looking at the elf.
The channeling chamber was a large circular room situated in the highest tower in the castle. It had no windows, the stone walls smooth and polished to a high sheen, but the ceiling opened up like the petals of a flower to expose the room to the night sky. There was nothing inside the room other than a raised platform and a channeling rod leaning against the wall by the door.
