Page 30

She was listening carefully to everything Naomi was telling her, but she was still so tense.

“I get that you’re friends but you can’t just let yourself in like that. I could have stabbed you!” Hayley said, visibly stressed.

“It wouldn’t have hurt,” he replied matter-of-factly, which made her mouth drop open.

Grimacing, Naomi looked at him. “Could you wait for me in the living room? I’ll talk to her in private and then we should be good.”

He nodded and left them to talk. However, the two rooms were right next to each other, and while the two of them tried their best to whisper, he could still hear their conversation.

Naomi gave her a very quick recap of who he was and why he was there, and every sentence or two Hayley would interrupt to ask if she was sure, if she was alright, or if she had been enchanted to believe he was safe.

“Goddamit Hayley,” Naomi whispered harshly, exasperated. “I even fucked him and I’m still in one piece. He’s safe.”

“You did what?” Hayley screeched, way louder than a whisper.

Naomi shushed her but it was useless, he could still hear them. His lips tugged into a smile, amused and a bit proud.

Eventually, the two of them emerged from the kitchen, Hayley looking defeated.

“She promised not to tell anyone about you,” Naomi told him. “And she promised to be civil.”

Unsure of what to do, he simply nodded. While Hayley sat down on the couch farthest from him, Naomi settled herself right next to Kilean.

“You didn’t come on your usual days,” she said, a hint of vulnerability in her voice. “I thought I wouldn’t see you this year.”

“We had a last-minute mission,” he explained. “I wasn’t expecting to find you still here. I thought I would just leave you a note. And this.”

He held out his hand, calling the object with his magic. Naomi gasped quietly when it appeared, a smile stretching her lips. It was a wooden Christmas decoration for her tree, carved in the shape of a snowman. The sides weren’t completely symmetrical and the face was a bit crooked, but human books said that in gifts, it was the thought that counted most. He just hoped Naomi felt that way, too. He would hate to disappoint her.

“For me?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Naomi took the decoration, holding it gently as if worried it would break. Her smile grew as she admired it.

“I made it myself. I didn’t use magic,” he proudly said. “I found out humans really value handmade things.”

When she had let him decorate her tree—telling her the stories of each ornament—he had been so fascinated by the human tradition of putting objects and lights on trees. He had seen Christmas decorations before, but he had never interested himself in them. After seeing how precious it was to Naomi, however, he couldn’t help being curious about it.

His stay in Hell had been followed by intensive research—stealing human texts wherever he could—about the human tradition of decorating for the holidays, until he went down a rabbit hole of information, learning about all kinds of holidays and traditions. Eventually, he found himself fascinated by how humans made some of the decorations themselves, and after researching more about that too, he had found himself with his talons chipping at blocks of wood.

“This is beautiful, thank you so much.”

Naomi placed a hand on his shoulder to pull him down, leaving a quick kiss on his cheek, and all the remaining worry evaporated from the weight pulling at his heart.

Hayley cleared her throat, mumbling, “I’m still here guys.”

Naomi ignored her and rushed to the tree, taking off a decoration in the middle to replace it with his snowman. She stepped back, admiring it, then turned to her friend with a smile so wide he thought her face would break. Seeing Naomi so excited filled him with warmth.

“Isn’t it adorable?”

Hayley sighed in defeat. “It is cute.”

Naomi slumped back on the couch, still admiring the tree. He hated to ruin a good moment, but now that he was there, he had to tell her the other reason why he came.

“I also came to tell you something,” he admitted.

When she turned back to him, her smile disappeared, replaced by a serious expression.