by Chris Cannon
…
Bryn checked her reflection in the mirror. “Are you sure this dress isn’t too much?”
The black dress her grandmother had suggested Bryn wear was a little revealing. The V-neck plunged deeper than anything she’d ever worn. “I mean I want Jaxon to like me, but I hadn’t planned on flashing my cleavage at him or anyone else…ever.”
Her grandmother smiled. “That is a perfectly respectable neckline, but if it makes you feel awkward, we’ll go with something else.”
“Thank you.” She could do awkward all on her own without a revealing dress.
Her grandmother went to Bryn’s closet, which seemed to be magically stocked with new clothes on a regular basis. Maybe her grandmother belonged to a Fashion Finds-of-the-Month-Club where clothes were shipped to the house.
She returned with a navy off-the-shoulder dress that had three quarter sleeves. Bryn changed into the new dress. “Much better. I don’t mind showing my shoulders.”
“I have the perfect necklace to go with that neckline.”
Bryn followed her grandmother down the hall to a room that had a keypad rather than a doorknob. Her grandmother entered a long series of numbers and the door swung open. Even though she’d been inside the special room which was basically a jewelry vault, she was still amazed by the display cases full of jewelry made with every precious stone imaginable. Everything in the vault had been passed down through generations of Sinclairs and would put most jewelry stores to shame.
“Since Jaxon gave you the snowflake bracelet, I think you should wear this.” Her grandmother approached a case of diamond necklaces and retrieved one which had a diamond snowflake as the centerpiece.
“It’s beautiful.” She accepted the necklace and held it in place while her grandmother fastened the clasp. It was stunning. “I swear it still feels like I’m playing the part of a princess in a fairy tale and someone is going to announce I’m an imposter.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Her grandmother’s tone was a tad defensive. “You are my granddaughter and you’re exactly where you belong.”
“Thank you.” Bryn hugged her grandmother. “If Ferrin is mean can I stab him with my hairpin?”
“No.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Her grandfather seemed overly cheerful on the ride to Westgate Estate. “What has you in such a good mood?” Bryn asked as the SUV bounced up and down on the forest roads.
“There are several answers to that question. It’s Christmas. Plus I always enjoy going to Westgate Estate because Ferrin goes above and beyond to try and impress his guests. After Jaxon’s social blunder last night, I’m sure he’ll pull out all the stops.”
A sense of uneasiness trickled down Bryn’s spine. It’s not like Ferrin would punish Jaxon for his mistake. Would he? That would make the evening loads of fun.
“No one is going to bring up the first dance issue tonight, right?”
“Not in so many words,” her grandmother said. “But I’d be surprised if Ferrin didn’t refer to it in some manner, since it reflected poorly on the Westgates in general.”
Great.
The foyer of Westgate Estate still had the obnoxious gold W inlaid in the center of the floor. Thank goodness Jaxon didn’t expect her to carry on that tradition. She leaned over to her grandmother and whispered, “Has anyone ever pointed out to Ferrin that if you’re standing on the other side of the room it looks like an M?”
Her grandmother grinned, but said, “Don’t even think about mentioning that this evening.”
“Fine,” Bryn said. “I’ll just file it away as ammunition to use at a later date.”
“Welcome and Merry Christmas,” Lillith said as she met them in the foyer with Asher on her hip.
“Merry Christmas to you, too,” Bryn’s grandmother said. “Thank you for inviting us.”
“You’re most welcome.” Lillith grinned. “I’m fairly out-numbered now, so it’s nice to have some other women in the house.”
They followed Lillith into the arbor-areum which had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland. Every single tree was covered in fairy lights. Some were white, some were blue. Some were a combination of both.
Bryn stared in awe. As obscene as it was to have a forest in the house, she had to give credit where credit was due. “This is magical.”
“Thank you.” Ferrin’s voice came from behind them, startling Bryn and causing her to turn around.
Ferrin had just thanked her? That had to be a sign of the apocalypse. Then again, she’d just complimented something he was proud of. The world had turned into a strange place.
“It is amazing,” Bryn’s grandmother added.
“This isn’t even the best part,” Lillith said. “Follow me.”
She’d taken a few steps when Jaxon appeared from behind a nearby tree. He was smiling, but he appeared tense, like he wasn’t happy to be here. “Sorry, I’m late. I was seeing to a few finishing touches.”
“Is everything in place?” Ferrin asked.
Jaxon nodded and fell into step beside Bryn.
She needed to break the tension. “Do you have Santa’s workshop hidden in here?”
“Something like that.”
She slowed her steps, allowing her grandparents and his parents to move ahead of them. Jaxon stayed by her side. “Everything all right?” she asked.
He glanced at her. “That will depend on how this evening goes.”
She stopped walking. “What does that mean?”
Jaxon placed his hand on her arm. “We need to keep moving. If everything is perfect this evening, my father will be much easier to live with.”
Crap. She didn’t like the way that sounded. “He’d never do anything to physically hurt you or your mother, would he?”
“What?” Jaxon appeared shocked. “Of course not. He might take away the keys to my car, but he’d never lay a hand on either of us.”
And now she felt like she needed to apologize. “Sorry. From my perspective he’s a little scary.” She wanted to add unbalanced, but that wouldn’t help the conversation.
“He is fierce. As he should be. And might I remind you, your father is the one who greeted me with an ax.” He grinned at her, and it was a real smile.
The tension she’d felt earlier receded. “You have a point. Now what’s the big reveal?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
They continued down the path and caught up with the rest of their family members at a table set for dinner next to a giant evergreen decorated with navy and silver glass balls that sparkled in the lights. A life-size sleigh was parked by the tree. And wait a minute. “Are those reindeer?”
“Yes,” Jaxon said. “Rudolph was booked but we managed to bring in Dasher and Dancer.”
The majestic animals had velvety brown fur and big amber eyes, not to mention impressive antlers.
“Can I pet them?”
“See that basket of carrots?” Jaxon pointed at the silver metal basket sitting under the Christmas tree.
If she wasn’t wearing heels, she would have run to the basket. Instead she walked over, grabbed two carrots, and headed for the reindeer. They raised their heads and sniffed the air as she came closer.
“Hello, there.” She held a carrot out to the closest reindeer, which he accepted without hesitation. While he chewed, she ran her hands along his neck and side. His fur was thick and soft. The other reindeer stamped his front right foot and looked at her expectantly. “Sorry.” She moved around and gave him a carrot, petting him in the same manner. “They’re beautiful.”
Bryn’s grandmother approached. “They are lovely.”
“You have an enchanted forest with reindeer,” Bryn said. “Do you have Santa Claus stashed nearby?”
“No, he’s a little busy this time of year,” Jaxon said.
“Too bad,” Bryn said.
“If you’ll wash your hands and come to the table, dinner is about to start,” Lillith announced.
Okay
, she had just run her fingers through the deer’s fur, but where was she supposed to wash her hands. She glanced around.
“This way.” Jaxon led her to the back of the giant evergreen to what looked like a water fountain. There was a crystal soap dispenser which she made use of and then she rinsed her hands.
“Was this here before the reindeer?” she asked.
“No. My mother had it installed this morning.”
“Wow.” Bryn couldn’t think of anything else to say. She was about to have Christmas dinner, complete with reindeer, at Westgate Estate. She fought the urge to giggle. A year ago she would have been 80 percent positive Ferrin would poison her food. Now she was about 80 percent positive he wouldn’t.
Keeping her thoughts to herself, she followed Jaxon back to the table and ended up sitting between him and Lillith. That worked. Her grandparents sat across from her while Ferrin sat at the head of the table. Asher lay in a bassinet by Lillith. He seemed to be captivated by a snowman mobile spinning in lazy circles.
“Thank you for coming this evening,” Ferrin said. “I’d be lying if I said I’d ever imagined this situation, but Jaxon and Bryn do seem to be a good match.” He raised his wine glass. “To new beginnings and a happy holiday.”
Bryn raised her water goblet while the adults raised their wine glasses. Jaxon copied her move. After the toast, Ferrin pressed a button on a small remote and a maid appeared from behind a tree pushing a cart down the slate path. In no time at all, dinner was served.
Lillith kept the small talk flowing while they ate. The food was amazing, and everything ran smoothly, which was strange. After a dessert of Christmas cookies, Ferrin said, “Let’s move on to the next part of the evening.”
“What’s next?” Bryn asked Jaxon.
“I’m not ruining the surprise,” he said. “Come on.”
They walked deeper into the forest and ended up at what looked like a frozen pond. There were benches with ice-skates lined up on them.
Bryn pointed at the glass like surface. “Did you use your breath weapon to create an indoor skating rink?”
“No,” Jaxon said. “We, or rather some Green dragons and an Orange dragon, used technology to create it, while making sure it wouldn’t hurt the trees.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Bryn said.
Jaxon shot her a look. “Was that pun intentional?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you know how to skate?” Jaxon asked.
Before this whole shape-shifting dragon business, she’d skated as a human. Or rather she’d tried to skate and spent most of her time falling down. “Not really, but I’m sure I can learn.” She looked down at her dress. “I’m not sure this is appropriate ice-skating attire.”
Jaxon pointed at a small tent-like structure off to the side. “My mother stocked the dressing room with clothes for you and your grandmother.”
At the moment, her grandmother emerged wearing a cream and navy cable-knit sweater and navy pants.
“Wow. Your mom thought of everything.”
Ten minutes later, Bryn realized she might’ve been wrong about the whole skating thing, as her feet went out from under her, yet again, and she landed on the cold wet ice with a thump. Thank goodness for the wardrobe change or she would’ve flashed Jaxon and everyone else half a dozen times by now. Speaking of Jaxon, he stood there, the picture of grace and ease on the ice, doing his best not to laugh and failing miserably. “Instead of smirking at me, help me up.” She held out a hand.
He glided over on his skates, like he was floating on air, and grabbed her hand. She fought the impulse to yank on his arm so he’d fall down, too, and instead allowed him to pull her to her feet.
Once she was standing she pointed at her skates. “Maybe the blades are defective.”
Jaxon pointed at his parents and her grandparents who were skating effortlessly on the far side of the ice rink. “They don’t seem to be having a problem.”
“Instead of mocking me, why don’t you teach me how to skate?”
“That won’t be nearly as much fun,” Jaxon said. “I think you’re pushing too hard. The idea is to glide, kind of like you fly, but use finesse, rather than strength.”
“That’s not my strong suit,” Bryn muttered.
Jaxon held out his hand. “You can do this.”
She took his hand which, oddly enough, felt natural, and pushed off, using half the force she’d used before. Huh. That did seem to work better.
“Push and glide,” Jaxon said.
“Right.” She didn’t glide quite like he did, but with him holding on to her, she managed much better and they actually made it around the entire pond.
“In honor of you making a complete circle without falling down, I think we should stop and have a drink.”
“Works for me.” Stopping while she was ahead seemed like a good plan.
He helped her off the ice to the bench where Bryn had left the boots Lillith had supplied with her outfit. After changing back into normal footwear, she felt much more relaxed. Shoes were not meant to have metal blades on the bottom of them.
In the middle of the bench was a carafe of hot cocoa, a small container of marshmallows, and two cups. Jaxon poured and then pushed the bowl of marshmallows toward her. “Help yourself.”
“Thank you.” She added three big marshmallows to her cup. For the moment, all was right in her world, which was strange because she was with Jaxon at Westgate Estate. Rather than think too much about it, she blew on her cocoa and then took a sip. It was velvety chocolate goodness.
Jaxon shook his head at her, but he was smiling while he did it. “I’ve never known anyone who liked food so much.”
“I think my grandfather is the same way, but he doesn’t let it show in public,” Bryn said.
“That is the Blue way of life,” Jaxon said. “Give nothing away in public.”
“Why?” Bryn asked. “Why is it so important to act perfect?”
“It just is. Blues are responsible for keeping the world in order, which means we must appear to have everything under control all of the time.”
“But that’s unrealistic.”
“Not to be rude, but until you came along, everyone believed the Directorate was in total control.”
“Don’t blame me,” she said. “I just pulled back the curtain. I didn’t cause the problem.”
“Right, but before you showed up, even I believed they were all-powerful and could do no wrong. They were very good at presenting that image. Now everyone knows they aren’t perfect, but the Directorate is still responsible for keeping everyone safe.”
“I know that. I’m impressed with how quickly the Directorate has assimilated. They aren’t preaching Clan purity anymore and they’re far more accepting of hybrids and throwbacks than I ever thought they’d be.”
Jaxon glanced out at the pond like he was checking to see how close the rest of the group was. “My father isn’t having the easiest time adjusting. Your grandfather, due in no small part to you, is leading the charge.”
A sense of pride filled Bryn’s chest. “I’m glad to hear that. Now if I could only get him to speak to my mother.”
“Don’t hold your breath. Loyalty is hugely important in our world.”
Bryn rolled her eyes. “Really, I had no idea.” It’s not like she was a complete outsider anymore.
“I know you’re aware of that, but I’m not sure you know how deep it runs.”
“What I keep coming back to is the fact that I wouldn’t be here if my mom hadn’t run off.” She pointed at Jaxon. “If you make some comment about how you’d be better off if I wasn’t here, I will accidentally spill my hot cocoa on you.”
“Even if I said it, I wouldn’t really mean it.” Jaxon grabbed her free hand that wasn’t holding the mug.
Warmth bloomed in her chest and it had nothing to do with the hot cocoa. If they were alone, now would be the perfect time for Jaxon to kiss her.
He stood. “Let’s go for a walk.”
Hand in hand, they walked down one of the slate paths back into the trees with the fairy lights. “This place is amazing.”
“This has always been my favorite part of the house. I used to spend a lot of time out here.”
“Doing what?”
They walked down a path and into a stand of trees. Several single swings and a double swing where two people could sit, like a porch swing, were suspended from the trees. There was also a staircase that spiraled around a tree and led up to a walkway suspended between the trees, high up in the branches.
“Can we go up?” Bryn asked.
“Sure.”
The spiral steps were easy to climb, but the walkway was higher up in the trees than it appeared from below.
“What do you think?” Jaxon asked.
“I think it’s the perfect place to hide from the world.” Wait a minute. “You made fun of me last year when I said I wanted a treehouse.”
“This isn’t a treehouse, it’s a far superior tree bridge.”
“Right,” Bryn mocked. “That makes sense.”
Jaxon tugged her back toward the platform of the first tree. “There’s more.” Around the back side of the tree there was a bench. “If you don’t feel like walking, you can sit.”
“As one does when one is tired from adventures on their tree bridge.” She sat and relaxed back against the trunk of the tree, very aware of Jaxon’s proximity and the heat coming off his body.
“Exactly,” he said.
She laughed. From inside the tree the fairy lights seemed even more magical. “You know this is basically a tree house without walls.”
“No. That doesn’t work for me,” he said.
Bryn rolled her eyes but didn’t comment.
“I saw that,” Jaxon said.
“You were meant to.” Joking around with him felt comfortable. “This is nice.”
“The tree?” he asked.
“No.” She pointed back and forth between them. “This. Us. No pretenses or small talk…just us.”