Page 31 of Tipped in Frost and Blood
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, but I wasn’t sure if you would prefer to spend it with your parents,” Damien said, his brows wrinkling as he stepped toward me. “I know you miss them, so I was unsure whether you’d choose to spend the holidays with us or them. I didn’t want to make you choose.”
“Of course I’d love to spend Solstice with you,” I said as he approached. “I just wasn’t sure what the traditions were, if it would be strange for a human to participate.”
His eyes softened, and he cupped my cheek. “I couldn’t imagine celebrating it again without you, human or immortal.”
My heart squeezed at his words, and I smiled.
“It’s gonna be a party,” Barrett said, his eyes lighting up. “Every year, we do a gift exchange, and everyone is assigned a random person. Then we do all kinds of things, and thenMiteracooks us a delicious dinner, and—"
“Down, boy,” Thalia said, cutting him off before turning to me with a warm smile. “Ignore him. He’s just excited to celebrate it with you.”
My smile widened into a grin. “It sounds like fun.”
“I thought you might invite your parents to join us for dinner on Solstice. Kat’s welcome too if she doesn’t have plans,” Damien offered.
I blinked, my heart launching into my throat at the thought of my parents. I’d spoken to Mom off and on over the past couple of weeks about Christmas, and while they had offered for me to come, I’d been undecided, but I hadn’t talked to Dad much at all since our last fight. Maybe this could help smooth things out. “Okay. I think that would be a great idea. I was actually talking to Kat and her parents won’t be back to celebrate with her.”
“She’s as much family as my brothers and their mates are,” he said with a smile that warmed me down to my toes. “I’d love for her to join us.”
“Well, first things first. We need a tree,” Barrett said before looking past me to Damien. “We doin’ this the old fashioned way?”
“Ethel’s been buying trees, but I think it would be nice to do it as we used to,” Damien said before his gaze drifted to me, his eyes warm.
“Is that because I always pick the perfect tree?” I asked with a knowing smile, and his eyes widened just a fraction, his smile fading.
“Did you...” he started but couldn’t seem to ask.
“I had a flicker of a memory resurface before the snowball fight last week, and last night I dreamt of a Solstice with you.” My eyes drifted as the images danced in my thoughts, of the sight of him holding me in the mirror. It had all felt so perfect. “We were decorating a tree in our cottage on the outskirts of Moonhaven.”
He took my hands in his, lifting them to press a kiss to my knuckles. “Let’s go pick the perfect tree, then.”
16
DAMIEN
“Gods, I feel like this might be the biggest tree you’ve ever picked,” I groaned as Barrett and I dragged it up the back porch steps, the sun making its final descent behind the mountains surrounding the valley.
“Are you sure? The tree I saw in my dream looked just as tall,” Cassie said, a wrinkle forming between her brows as she and Thalia followed close behind us.
Ethel turned our way, gray brows rising as we lugged the tree through the kitchen door, bits of dirt and snow littering the wood floors as we went. She let out a sigh, placing her hand on her hip. “Now Ah’ll have tae mop again.”
“Worth it, though!” Barrett said, his smile wide with delight. “Look at this tree Cas picked out!”
Her eyes lit up as she took a moment to look it over. “Oh mah goodness. I daresay that’s the biggest tree we’ve had in ages.”
“I don’t know. What if it’s too big?” Cassie said, her chestnut brows wrinkling as she watched from the doorway. “I hope you guys didn’t drag it up here just for it not to fit.”
“It’ll fit,” I said, focusing on not crashing the trunk into the wall as we carried it into the hallway toward the living room. “You’ve never picked wrong.”
She didn’t seem convinced. “We’ll see.”
Barrett and I got it into the tree stand before lifting it up. Cassie watched from where she stood nearby with Thalia, hands over her mouth, as if she were afraid what she said might be true. We got it into place, and the top of the tree almost brushed the ceiling. Cassie let out a breath of relief, and I chuckled.
“It’s perfect,” I said, glancing back at her as I pulled my coat off, the sight of her warm smile enough to undo me. It was genuine, one I wished I could see on her face every day.
“We’ll get started on the other stuff,” Barrett said, and he and Thalia started pulling garland and other pieces from the storage bins.
“I think you should place the first ornament,” I said, reaching into our bin, searching for a specific one.
