It wasn’t even cold outside like it usually would feel when snow covered the world. It felt like déjà vu when Lucian, Blake, and George grabbed some fancy sleigh-tubes from a glorified shed.
We walked up the nearest hill, and the guys sledded down first. I shared a sled most of the time with Blake. I felt safe with him.
He stole plenty of kisses throughout the trips and then we would walk back up to the hill and sled down again.
Tabitha iced the one side of the slope. She had a naughty side to her. The guys enjoyed it tremendously. We laughed at Sammy’s shrill shriek.
“One of them is going to break their leg, Tabitha.”
“The boys love it.”
Annie came running up the hill with my mom. Arianna, Queen Maggie, and who I presumed to be Arianna’s mom followed.
I got up and rushed to my mom. She was so beautiful, dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a beautiful top that showcased her arms. The short sleeves didn’t fit with the snow.
“If I knew that Maggie would’ve bought a snow spell for this year, I would not have wear these babies.” She pointed to her designer boots. Her hair was in a bunch of curls that actually made her appear a lot younger, like a few years old than us. She opened her arms to me and wrapped them around me, swaying me from side to side. “Merry Christmas, baby.”
“You too, Mom.”
She kissed me on top of my head. “I wish your real mom was here to celebrate it with us.”
“She is always with us,” Queen Maggie said and tapped her chest. “In here.”
I smiled as the queen put a blanket in my hands.
Annie was next. “Merry Christmas, Elena.”
“To you too. What took you so long?”
“We spent last night and this morning with Charles and them. Our first Christmas of freedom.”
“Your mom is also here?”
“Yeah, she is inside with Aunty Isabel. This looks like fun,” Annie said as she looked at the guys sleighing down the tubes and laughed.
Blake’s tube had crashed against the tree and tipped over.
“I told you, one of them is going to break their leg, Tabitha. It’ll be my luck if it’s my dragon.”
Tabitha laughed and thought it was hilarious.
Mom wrapped her arm around me. Another two months and we would be in Paegeia for almost an entire year. Time really passed quickly.
When Blake and Lu came running up, Queen Maggie asked for the tube.
“You are going to break your leg, Mom.”
“I’ll heal. Give me the sled.”
“Oh, this I need to see.”
“Hand your momma over that tube too,” Mom said to Blake, and he froze as I tried to suppress my laughter.
He gave it to her with a slight quirk at his lips. I couldn’t believe she said that.
Queen Maggie and my mom went down right after one another as Blake came to hug me.
He laughed softly.
“She would—”
“Shh,” I said, and he kissed the tip of my nose.
Arianna and her mother also went down in one tube, and it was hilarious how her mother screamed.
A few minutes after, the rest of the grown-ups came to investigate, and they brought more sleigh-tubes.
I went with both my dads and laughed when Dad Albert voiced how slippery the one slope was and blamed King Caleb.
Tabitha hid behind Queen Maggie.
“I’m not the only one with ice, Albert.”
“Oh, yeah, then who, if not you?”
King Caleb stared at Lucian, who, for the first time, didn’t throw Tabitha under the bus.
King Helmut grabbed a tube. When he passed Queen Maggie, he pulled her arm and she fell on top of him in the tube. She yelped which made all of us laugh.
The ‘rents all took turns to go down.
A huge snowball smashed against Blake and George’s backs.
I looked back and Dad Albert and Becky’s dad scraped up snow for the next round.
George and Blake took their challenge, and it wasn’t long before everyone started chucking snowballs at each other. I had snow up everywhere, and my jeans were soaking wet afterward—just like real snow.
I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had so much fun. Laughed so much and enjoyed everyone’s company. Even Dad Herbert laughed out of his stomach, which he hardly did behind the wall.
We ran for our rooms to get out of our wet soggy clothes. When I got back downstairs, I found Blake huddled in a group with my father’s men.
“The last time I saw you, you were this little red and purple dragon, falling over his own tendrils.”
Blake’s cheeks turned red. “I grew into them.”
The guy roared as he slapped Blake against his shoulder.
Sir Robert’s chest couldn’t swell any bigger.
“You sure he is yours, Bob? The boy looks a lot like McKernal.”
“McKernal?” Blake’s mom yelled from the dining room table, before Sir Robert could say anything, eliciting more laughter.
“Sorry, Issy. Just joking with you, love.”
Sir Robert’s shoulders shook. “You are blind, like always, you git. He is my son, through and through.”
“You need to buy yourself an enormous gun,” Beaumond said and tapped Dad on the back.
Dad Herbert grabbed Blake from behind and had his neck in a tight lock. “He knows I can easily snap his neck, whether he is the Rubicon. He wouldn’t even have time for his pink kiss to come.”
“Apparently, I don’t need a gun. I have Jako,” Dad Albert said, and Dad Herbert finally let go of Blake, eliciting more laughter.
I finally reached them, and Dad Herbert wrapped his arms around me.
“And I pay for it by sharing my fatherly title,” Dad Albert complained.
“The more that love her, the better,” Dad Herbert said and glared at Blake as he turned around and walked away.
Blake shook his head as the guys teased some more.
Lunch was finally called, and we moved toward the two tables that were set up in the dining room.
We got the edge seats while the grown-ups took the opposite sides.
Dad got up and raised his glass of warm red wine.
I couldn’t even imagine how that tasted.
“To be honest, when Helmut asked me to make a speech today, I did not know what I was going to say. I feel I have completely lost my mind, gone raving mad and that none of this is real.”
Sir Robert punched him on the shoulder hard. Dad stumbled slightly as he stared at his dragon.
“You feel that?”
Everyone laughed as my father’s lips curved into a smile as he shook his head.
“It’s the first Christmas with my daughter and my friends. The first Christmas with my dragon and family. It’s not the first Christmas with you.” He looked at the guys that were with him the past fourteen, almost fifteen years.
“We had some crappy Christmases the past fifteen odd years, but we always tried to hang on to those that loved us, those that hopefully waited for us on the other side, no matter what Goran had told us. We knew better that they were still alive, waiting for us, praying for our safe return.
“Let’s celebrate the first of many Christmases as we will never celebrate it in hunger, in cold, and in darkness again. We will celebrate it with love, friendship, and hope. Enjoy.”
“Hear, hear,” they all said and raised their glasses. After the speech, he said grace, and we all dug in.
After lunch it was brandies and eggnog. They spoke about the old days as we all finished our dessert.
Dad Herbert entered the dining room. I hadn’t even seen him leave. We laughed as he wore Santa Claus’s jacket, pants, and boots, but not his beard.
“You were supposed to put on the beard and wig,” Sir Robert said.
“Elena knows Santa isn’t real.”
Dad Albert gasped. “Santa isn’t real?”
It elicited more laughter as Dad Herbert shook his head, dragging a gigantic bag filled with presents behind him.
He plopped on the big red chair underneath one of the ten Christmas trees Queen Maggie had stationed at the palace and grabbed the first present.
I got a beautiful bracelet that belonged to my mother from my father.
“No car?” King Helmut said when I kissed my dad on his cheek.
“No,” Dad Albert said. “Mine is not a spoiled brat like yours.”
“What now?” Lucian asked.
King Helmut looked at Lucian and then he shrugged. “True.”
Everyone laughed.
“Ha-ha, funny, Dad.” Lu didn’t think it was hilarious.
“Blake,” Dad Herbert called him.
“Yeah, I don’t trust any gift coming from you.”
Mom laughed.
“It’s from me,” Dad Albert said.
Blake got up. “Is it a car?”
I burst out laughing as Dad Albert just stared at him.
“Are you a spoiled brat, too?” Dad Albert asked.
“I’m the Rubicon.”
Blake was so sweet tonight. I just wanted to eat him up.
Dad Albert picked up an envelope. “I don’t know if I should give this to you, now.”
“I’m only joking,” Blake said as Sir Robert smiled behind his glass of brandy.
Dad gave him the envelope.
He opened it and took out a piece of paper. His eyes grew as he looked at Lucian and then at my dad. “Are you serious?”
Dad nodded, and Blake whooped.
“What, what?” Annie asked.
“Warbel.” He looked at Lucian.
Lu jumped from his chair and rushed to Blake to see the letter. “Say whaaat?”
“As a rider, Blake, not a dragon,” Dad Albert said.
“Which bring us to our present,” Sir Robert answered and handed him a long oblong box.
“A raider.”
Sir Robert nodded.
“Thanks,” Blake hugged his father first and then gave Dad Albert a hug, “See, this is what you should do, Jako.”
“Yeah, no,” Dad Herbert said.
“What is Warbel?”
“Oh, we have to show, Elena,” Dad Albert said.
“There are still a lot of presents to be handed out. We can show her after,” Dad Herbert said and carried on dishing out presents.
Blake was really giddy about the gift my father had given him. Even if I didn’t know what it was.
Lucian and he couldn’t stop speaking about next year’s try-outs. I got a feeling it was some sort of game.
Blake’s name got called again, and he grunted.
He got up, and it was my gift.
Dad Herbert handed him the wooden box that carried the key.
“My gifts are extremely small,” Blake said.
“Ha,” Dad Albert huffed. “I’m glad you think it’s small.”
“Another one?”
“No, this one isn’t from me,” Dad Albert said.
“It’s from me,” I yelled.
“Can I open it now?” Blake asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to open it now?” Dad Herbert asked very suspiciously which had Mom in a fit of hysterics. Blake looked at Mom and back at me.
“Why are you laughing, Tanya?” Dad Herbert asked.
She waved it away. “Nothing, absolutely nothing.”
“I didn’t want to embarrass her,” Blake answered.
“Just open the bloody gift,” Dad Herbert sounded annoyed.
Blake ripped off the paper and looked at the box. He froze as he laid his eyes on the logo. He looked at me. “No.”
I tried to suppress my laughter.
“What did she give you?” Isabel said as she walked behind him and then her eyes grew wider.
“Albert?”
“It’s not from me.”
“Yeah, I doubt your daughter had this sort of money lying around.”
“She has plenty of money, Issy. She is a princess.”
Blake opened the box and gave nervous little laughs as he held up the keys to a motorcycle that he’d always wanted.
“Say whaaaat?” Lu asked.
Blake came over to me, cupped my face, and kissed me on the lips.
“Let’s go see,” George said, with Lu and Blake rushing to the outside where Dad Albert pointed.
Annie, Becky, and Tabitha followed with Isabel and Constance on their heels.
The roar of the bike filled the background, and I assumed Blake was taking it for a drive.
Dad Herbert kept handing out the gifts.
I’d gotten one from Mom and one from the McKenzies. I hadn’t opened it yet, but I was sure it was an over-the-top present.
“Elena,” Dad Herbert said.
“Another one?”
“No, not yet. We need to wait,” Sir Robert said.
“Wait?”
“It’s from us. Just put it on the side,” Sir Robert said.
“Oh, what did you buy?”
Dad Albert laughed at Dad Herbert’s protesting.
“Buck up, man. You are worse than her mother. Or what her mother would’ve been like.”
“Yeah, I doubt I would’ve been worse than Kate,” Dad Herbert said.
“She would’ve been an awesome mom,” Mom Tanya said and winked at me as she took a sip of her champagne.
Dad Herbert carried on. Sammy’s name popped up among others, and finally the guys came back. Blake kissed me again, and Dad Herbert called my name one more time, staring at Sir Robert, eliciting laughter from the others.
I got up and grabbed my present, saying thanks to Sir Robert and Isabel for whatever the present was.
“Open it now,” Sir Robert said, and I unwrapped it. It was a black box that had a picture of a sphere on top.
Blake laughed. “It’s a waste of money, Dad.”
“It’s not, and she needs one, Blake.”
“What is this?” I ask.
“It’s a saddle and some gear for Blake. Newest invention.” He looked at his son. “The saddle is actually expandable. So I think you might actually use it more than a few times.”
Blake got up and walked toward us. He took the box out of my hand. “Newest invention, you say?”
“You can try it on after Warbel,” Dad Albert suggest.
I kept staring at the box. “I really need to see how a saddle that is going to fit your gigantic butt, fits in there. ”
“Magic!” half of the guests yelled, eliciting a round of laughter.
My heart wanted to explode from joy, being surrounded by everyone that I deemed as my family. Christmas was by far going to be my favorite season from now on.
