Page 42 of Star Bright
At the end, they were even colder and wetter than after the snowball fight, but Kong had cocoa and cider waiting for them.
“This is the happiest they’ve been long time,” Vash murmured. “The happiest I’ve been. Because of you.”
Darcy kept her nose in her mug, hoping to disguise her blush with the heat of the steaming tea she’d chosen. “If not for you three, I think I would’ve had the saddest Christmas ever.”
That evening, they gathered around the fireplace, pleasantly tired. Too tired to dismantle the pillow forts, although Darcy knew that had to happen soon. Just not quite yet. “How about some music?”
“Christmas carols?” Yadira looked up. “I was reading about them. I like to sing.”
“I sound like a yowling larf,” Atsu said. “But I like music too.”
With Ug’s help, Darcy poked through the outpost’s music library. She paused at some exceedingly unfamiliar options, but she decided that would be for her own education at another time—along with a quick search on larfs—and queued up the classics.
Yadira sat attentively, head tilted to one side, and was humming along after the first few bars. Atsu sprawled at her feet, eyes half closed. But when it got to “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, the boy rolled over to look at Darcy. “Who is this Santa Claus?”
Before Darcy could explain, Yadira answered, “He’s a jolly old elf who dictates the distribution of Christmas gifts on this planet based on a binary distribution model of naughty and nice. Didn’t you listen to the lyrics of the other songs?”
“But why is Mommy kissing him?”
The teen rolled her eyes, which needed no translation. “Because there was mistletoe.”
Vash grumbled under his breath. “According to local Earther dating rules, unless otherwise stated, a match that results in marriage is considered an exclusive contract.”
Darcy put a fingertip over her lips to stop herself from grinning at the disgruntled note in his voice. “It’s meant as a joking song. In some families, it is the eldest male who disguises himself to perform Santa-related chores.”
“Ah. So the titular Mommy is actually kissing her mate, but her offspring is confused.” He crossed his arms. “Such deception does not seem conducive to familial harmony.”
“Well, as much as people love holidays, there are also a lot of stresses,” she mused. “It’s complicated.”
“It’s not,” he said in a clipped tone. “The mate bond is a precious gift, not a joke.”
She gazed at him, wondering. Was he feeling bad about last night? That he’d betrayed his bond? But he had chosen to sign a contract with the IDA.
So maybe his complaint was just with her.
Maybe a match was more than complicated. Maybe it was impossible.
Chapter15
Settling the fledglings in their separate rooms took longer than Vash expected. Atsu was tired from the day’s adventures, but still strangely restless, circling the room repeatedly with all his drakling senses on alert when he’d had no such worries about the much bigger lobby space. Finally, Vash rearranged the furniture to more closely resemble the pillow fort, and the little one settled into the makeshift nest with a sigh.
“We should get a gift for Darcy,” he mumbled as his eyes closed. “Because she has taken good care of us and it is almost Christmas.”
Vash tugged the blankets around the slackening little body. “That is a very sweet idea. We’ll come up with something tomorrow. Sleep well so you are ready for another day.”
He made it as far as the door before his son called out again. “Do you think Ammi would’ve liked Darcy? I think she would.”
Vash closed his eyes for a moment, breathing through pain and patience. He wasn’t as sure as his son. His mate had been a fiery soul of storms, hot and bright and fast. Darcy… She had a heat as well, but it was like the Earther peppers, slower and deeper and all through the body. Both of them had an inner strength and an innate kindness. If they’d ever met, he thought they would have shared dessert and drinks and, yes, maybe become friends. “I think we would’ve lost to the girls very badly in a snowball fight,” he said at last. “Dream sweet, my summer breeze.”
He opened the door.
“Addah?”
“What, Atsu?”
“Are the skies of our heart big enough for two planets?”
Vash bowed his head. “Big enough for every sky in the infinite universe.”
