by Zoe Chant
“Thanks,” the man said after a moment, his eyes wide as he looked at Claire with new respect. “I guess I needed to hear that. Jeremy always tells me that I worry too much—but that’s what we dads do, isn’t it? You two got any of your own?”
“Oh, it isn’t—” Claire began, visibly flustered as she blushed and gave Raul an uncertain look.
“Not yet,” Raul said and smirked at her. “But if I’ve got any say in it, there’ll be at least three eventually.”
“Three is a lot of work,” the man said and chuckled. “I’m Micah, by the way. It was great to chat. And they’re worth it, you know. It’s always worth it.”
They’d been talking for long enough that the teenagers were already gathered by the starting line, impatiently waiting for the signal to be fired. Malcolm had vanished into the maze, taking pictures of the snowball fight in progress.
They’d just made their way over to the stall selling hot chocolate when finally, a bright red signal went up from the heart of the maze.
The teenagers half-heartedly cheered while the parents whooped in excitement. Clutching two mugs of cinnamon-flavored hot chocolate, they waited as the teenagers lined up by the maze’s entrance.
A minute later, Malcolm came running out of the maze, visibly panting as he shouted for them to wait for him.
As soon as he was in position with his huge camera hiding his face, the flag was waved and the teenagers shot into the maze to the sound of excited shouts.
“That’ll probably take less time than the kids,” Claire said. “Those teens are super excited about this. If it goes well, we could always repeat it—make it a weekly tournament, maybe.”
Raul watched her brown hair gleam in the bright sunlight. Her cheeks were flushed, and now, with their own starting time coming closer, she was nearly bouncing on her feet.
“It’s good to have a break from that paperwork, hmm?” he said. “But I hope you’ll remember that we’ll have to find a way to lose. Can’t have them accuse us of nepotism.”
“Dylan will probably tease me about losing. But that’s all the more reason to have a repeat next weekend,” she said.
“Maybe we need to introduce prizes for the losers. I think that would go over well.”
“Invitations to the masked ball?” she mused. “Only participants get to take part? If we make it a closed event, I bet people will be way more excited to take part in the snowball fight. The mysterious masked ball at the end of the season. Everyone who took part in one of the fights gets to bring a guest.”
“Which I'm sure will be pretty much all of the guests by the end.” Raul laughed. “A devious plan.”
Claire beamed. “We’ll see how Henrik and Dara like it when they get back—but we’ve still got a few weeks to pull it off.”
Raul could tell that Claire was already mentally taking notes, making lists and mulling over which sponsors could be won over.
Having a plan always made Claire’s eyes shine. It was like inside her mind, entire events were taking shape and playing out in a myriad different ways, while she made little changes and corrections until she found a perfect solution to even the smallest problem.
Raul loved watching her like this. She was obviously great at her job—Henrik and Dara wouldn’t have hired her otherwise. But it was more than just a job. She loved planning, and seeing events come to life.
Where Raul had settled on a career in investment banking due to his dragon’s natural affinity for treasure, he’d never found real joy in his work. Perhaps it was because it was such a cut-throat environment. Or perhaps it was because he’d always been focused on the fact that he needed to make up for his family’s shame—and that no matter how much money he made, it would never satisfy his inner dragon. Shareholder meetings and offshore accounts were no real replacement for the bond a dragon formed with his hoard.
He’d give up all of his top Dow Jones rated stocks in a heartbeat if it would return just one single lost family treasure to him.
With a faint, distant boom, another signal went off at the heart of the maze, this one blue.
“The teens are done!” Clare nudged him, eyes alight with excitement. “Come on! Our turn now!”
“Remember the plan,” Raul said, chuckling, even though the same excitement had begun to take hold of him.
Dragons loved a challenge—especially if there was a promised treasure at the end.
The necklace for the winner would be a fairly won treasure, according to dragon rules. Perhaps it could even be the start of a new hoard—jewelry that had a meaning to him. A little diamond-studded snowflake that he could gift to his mate, and which would forever remind him of this day...
But we can’t win, he reminded himself. It would be unfair. We live here, after all. At least for now. There’ll be other chances for my dragon to win some treasure. And then, I’ve already found the most important treasure of all...
Claire beamed at him, taking his empty mug to return it to the stall.
When she returned, the other parents had gathered at the starting line. The man who’d give the start signal waited until Claire and Raul had lined up as well, then started into his by now well-rehearsed little speech.
“All right, folks, you know how it goes, but here’s one more reminder. After the race starts, you have one minute to make your way into the maze, gather snowballs, find cover or do whatever else you feel like. After one minute, the snowball fight starts. Then every team is on its own. Everyone’s got three lives. After you’ve been hit by a snowball for the third time, you’re out. Now I know that sometimes, in the excitement of the fight, it’s difficult to realize you were hit. So we’ve got watchers all over the maze, dressed in our Snow Castle parkas. Don’t hit those guys, they’re our referees. They’ll note down every hit they see, so no cheating.” He wagged his finger at them.
“Ready? And... go!”
His helper frantically waved his flag to signal that the battle had started.
Chapter Thirteen: Claire
Surrounded by whoops and cheers, Claire held on to Raul’s hand, laughing as they ran into the entrance of the maze together.
From their right, flash after flash came as Malcolm seemed to make a point of snapping a picture of every combatant.
Then they were past Malcolm and inside the maze. Before them, walls of snow stretched. Paths led off into different directions.
Claire didn’t think, just allowed Raul to lead her. Without hesitation, he chose the second path from the right. Breathless and still laughing, Claire followed along—as did a few others.
How long would their minute last?
The referees scattered through the maze were supposed to blow their whistles to signal that the battle part of the snowball fight had started. How much time was left now? Half a minute? More?
Another crossroad appeared before them. Raul swerved to the left without hesitation.
When Claire dared to look back, she saw that now, only one pair had followed—it was Micah, she saw to her amusement, hand in hand with a man in his forties, with curly black hair and glasses, looking a bit like an older Harry Potter. That had to be Jeremy, his boyfriend.
“Good luck,” she shouted when Micah took a sudden turn to the right, Jeremy following.
She got a grin and a thumbs-up from Micah—and then they were gone from view.
For a moment, they were all alone on this narrow path between two high walls of snow.
“Wait,” she panted, tugging on Raul’s hand. “Ammunition!”
Raul stopped abruptly, looking back as well to make sure that they weren’t being followed.
“Hurry,” he said, grinning as he hastily gathered as much snow as he could. “I haven’t heard a whistle yet, but there can’t be much time left—”
“Do you know where we’re going?” Claire made another snowball and added it to their small pile.
Raul shook his head. “I haven’t been in here, except for that one time with you.”
“Yo
u seemed like you knew where you were going,” Claire said, laughing as she stuffed three snowballs into a pocket. The minute had to be almost up.
“I had a feeling... Something tugging on me, very gently. I think it’s my dragon honing in on the treasure.”
“The diamond snowflake?” Claire hastily made another snowball.
“Don’t worry. It’s a bit of an unfair advantage, but I’ll make sure we lose.”
Raul paused for a second, brushing the hair out of his eyes. He was flushed—a little out of breath, but utterly relaxed.
Claire stared at the way he looked, surrounded by nothing but the stark, white walls. In contrast to the snow all around them, he seemed like the embodiment of life and heat—he was passion, blazing among the ice.
She nearly leaned forward to kiss him when the shrill sound of whistles going off all over the maze interrupted them.
“Time’s up!” Raul said, eyes gleaming. “Now we’ll show them how a dragon fights!”
“Remember, no unfair dragon tricks.” Claire was already running after him. She held one snowball in her right hand, ready to throw, and two more in her left hand, in addition to those she’d shoved into her pocket.
“I’ll try.” Grinning widely, Raul swerved around a corner.
Claire was right behind him—which gave her just enough time to duck when from their right, Micah and Jeremy suddenly burst forward with a war cry, snowballs sailing through the air.
The first hit Raul right in the chest. He clutched his parka dramatically as he crumpled to his knees.
“First hit!” a referee cried, who’d appeared out of a passage to their left.
A heartbeat later, the snowball Claire had hastily hurled before ducking back into cover hit its target. It exploded in a burst of snow against Micah’s shoulder, who gasped in surprise.
“First hit for you too, sir!” the referee cried.
“Come on,” Claire said, holding her hand out for Raul.
He’d quickly rolled back into cover after her. Now he grabbed the snowballs that had fallen from his hands, nodding towards the passage they’d come from.
“There was another opening. Let’s try that way instead.”
“Still your dragon’s idea, hmm?” Claire asked, grinning.
A bit of cheating probably wouldn’t hurt, especially as Raul had already lost one of his three lives.
As they ran back the way they’d come, they heard shouts and laughter coming from another part of the maze. With the way the corridors of snow twisted and turned, it was difficult to make out where exactly sound was coming from.
Perhaps a part of the snowball battle was raging just on the other side of the white wall to their right—or perhaps it was a long way off, completely out of their way.
Still, Claire pressed her finger to her mouth, giving Raul a pointed look as they found the opening they’d passed earlier.
This time, she made sure she was the first. Instead of barging in with her snowballs at the ready, she moved as silently as possible, trying to catch a look of what was ahead in the passage beyond.
The way was empty. Relieved, she signaled for Raul to follow. The sounds they’d head earlier sounded a bit more distant now. Had they moved away from the battling participants, or had the other players moved forward in the labyrinth?
It was impossible to tell.
Her heart was beating with excitement as she ran through the white corridor side by side with Raul.
With her long, exhausting workdays, she didn’t have much time to just relax and play. Right now, even though she knew they'd have to lose the game in the end, she had more fun than she’d had in ages.
“As a child, I would have killed for a vacation like this,” she whispered to Raul.
“We should return once we’ve got kids old enough to take part.” He was as breathless and excited as she was—but there was something dead serious about the way he said the words.
Something inside her contracted again with helpless love. He really meant it. He wasn't just joking—he was as serious about wanting a family as she was.
It made her reach out, regardless of the fact that she had to drop a snowball for it. But the warm weight of his hand in hers made up for it—as did the fact that he immediately pulled her close.
“I want that a lot,” she breathed.
He wrapped one strong arm around her, and then, breathless and flushed with excitement, he kissed her, his tousled hair brushing against her face.
For a moment, the snow and ice around them seemed to recede. It was like sitting by the side of a bonfire on a snowy night. He smelled like resin and wood smoke, something sexy and masculine and filled with heat.
It made her flush with need, even here, sighing into the kiss.
She was almost tempted to suggest that they should just give up on the snowball fight, because no diamond snowflake would ever come close to kissing him—but then, out of nowhere, they were hit by a barrage of snowballs.
“First hit for our Claire,” a referee shouted. “Second hit for you, sir.”
“Doesn’t look good for the castle,” one of the guests shouted in excitement.
When Claire turned, she recognized him. He was the dad of Dylan’s crush, broad-shouldered and laughing. The woman next to him, with her hair braided just like her daughter’s, high-fived him—and then they were back off into the labyrinth.
“Ouch.” Raul laughed. “This time you’re the one who’s a terrible distraction.”
He looked like he didn’t regret that fact one bit, and leaned back down to kiss the tip of her nose.
“Only one life left for me now,” he pointed out. “I guess we don’t have to worry about losing now.”
“Let’s just concentrate on having fun.” Claire listened again, trying to figure out where the battle had moved to now. After a moment, she shook her head.
“I can’t hear anything. Should we go after them?” She nodded at the opening through which their two rivals had left.
Raul hesitated a moment, then shook his head.
“I think that opening leads towards the heart of the maze,” he said slowly, “but if you wouldn’t mind... I’d really love to explore in that direction.”
He nodded towards a different opening, which seemed to lead roughly back into the direction from which they’d come.
“It’s a maze,” Claire said after a moment. “They might be rushing off into a dead end. And your passage might just twist back to the maze’s center, who knows. Let’s do this!”
Raul grinned. “Maybe my dragon just wants me to be alone with you again,” he murmured. “Maybe you’re the treasure that has him all excited.”
Claire felt a shiver run through her at his delicious, sexy rumble.
“Behave,” she teased. “We owe it to the castle to at least do our best. But after...”
“Yes?” Raul leaned in a little closer—so close that she could feel his hot breath against her lips.
All she’d have to do would be to lean in just a little bit further...
“After,” she said, swallowing against the need to forget all about the snowball battle in his arms. “After, your dragon can claim his treasure in any way he wants.”
Raul’s eyes lit up at her declaration, and she felt another wave of heat roll through her, her body throbbing with need for him.
Soon, she told herself, taking a deep breath.
But first, the snowball battle was waiting for them.
Chapter Fourteen: Raul
Walls of snow spread all around them. It was eerily silent, the snow stifling all sound.
He’d never been fond of the snow—but right now, with the excitement of the battle racing through his veins, and with his mate by his side, the snow wasn’t so bad.
No, winter wasn’t bad at all, especially if you had a fire dragon inside you who’d take every opportunity to warm his mate with his dragon heat.
Raul smirked a little. Who’d have thought that he’d ever sing the prai
ses of winter...
Suddenly, the dragon inside himself paused. They’d come close to the opening that had intrigued his dragon earlier. Now that Raul could give it a closer look, it looked completely indistinguishable from the rest of the maze.
You know that we’re not going to win the diamond snowflake, right? he told his dragon.
His dragon didn’t answer, focused with all of his being on the opening in the wall of snow.
Okay. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when someone else takes the prize home.
It was eerie, in fact, to see his dragon so distracted. He’d never really had that complete connection between human and dragon that other, more powerful dragon shifters had. That sort of connection would have been forged when he and his dragon should have worked for weeks on their heart stone.
But that jewel had been lost together with their hoard. And ever since then, shifting had been something he’d only dared at the sign of utmost danger—a handful of times in his life, and every time it had left him more weakened.
For a moment, he felt unsettled when he remembered the accident with the sleigh. What if their unknown assassin struck again, and Raul was too weak to shift again and protect Claire?
Nothing has happened since, he reminded himself. And this snowball fight is the most public event the castle has seen in a while. There are people and referees all over the maze. It’s the complete opposite of our lonely sleigh ride.
“This is where your dragon leads?” Claire asked, giving the opening a curious look. Then she shrugged and stepped through.
She vanished so suddenly from his view that Raul felt his heart gripped by terror. Without thinking, he immediately threw himself after her—only to bump straight into her back.
She laughed, looking completely unaware of the distress that had suddenly struck him.
His heart still racing, Raul looked around. It didn't look any different than the passages they’d run through before. The snow walls were a little higher here, and the path before them twisted in a strange angle—which was probably why Claire had disappeared from view so suddenly.