Page 49 of Shelf-Made Man
At some point after that, he felt pain, but it was a dull ache and not alarming. It reminded him of when he’d broken his arm as a boy. Not the initial shock and agony, but the throbbing that came a few days later, when he’d been in a cast for a while and the bones were knitting quickly.
So the pain didn’t matter, but the other sensation did: fingers gently carding through his hair, untangling the snarls.
He smelled peppermint. And heard someone humming…White Christmas?
Finally, Tobias opened his eyes.
Initially, all he saw was whiteness, which was alarming until he realized he was lying on his back and staring at a ceiling. He turned his head slightly?—
“Don’t move!” The voice was irritated, bossy, and beloved. “I’m still putting you back together and I don’t want you undoing my work.”
Fine. Tobias rolled his eyes to the side instead. And there was Alfie frowning down at him.
“You’re hurt!” Tobias tried to move but Alfie pinned his shoulders in place.
“I’m not. It’s your blood, not mine. And I’m afraid you’ve ruined the countess’s lovely rug.” Alfie was smiling fondly.
It took a moment for Tobias to catch up. “We’re… at Aunt Virginia’s home?”
“That’s where you brought us. I didn’t want to move you until you were less… perforated. Besides which, we would have struggled to lift you. You are not light as a feather. We’ll re-situate you somewhere more comfortable shortly.”
“Is Olve?—”
“Currently in the kitchen with the countess. I believe she’s feeding him bits of leftovers from our lovely dinner. I’m rather sorry I missed the bulk of their reunion, because it was quite emotional. But I was otherwise occupied.” Alfie leaned down and kissed the tip of Tobias’s nose.
And that was nice, until a stab of panic hit. “Snjokarl?—”
“Is, as you say, out of the picture. Permanently.” Alfie’s wicked grin was beautiful to see.
Tobias relaxed a little more. The floor was hard, even with the cushioning of the rug beneath him, but it was nowhere near as bad as that awful cell. God, he must look terrible. And he must reek! “I shouldn’t have brought us here. I could have endangered Aunt Virginia.”
“I don’t think you made a conscious choice, love. And anyway, she’s delighted. To have Olve returned, of course, and to see you back in more or less one piece. But also to be in the middle of an exciting adventure. She’s almost giddy with it, and I swear she looks years younger.”
Oh. “But why did I bring us here specifically?”
“I suspect because this is where your family is.”
Family. Right now, that sounded like one of the world’s best words.
Tobias wanted to reach up and stroke Alfie’s face, but that could wait. “What’s next, then?”
“You let me finish healing you. Then I’ll see if I can help Olve get back into proper physical shape as well. We all get cleaned up. And then, my dearest, we sit down for a proper celebration. Did you know we were absent from this world for less than a day? Time does such odd things.”
“So today….” Tobias thought about it for a moment. “Today is Christmas.”
“Indeed.”
Tobias thought back on all the holidays he’d spentwith his mother and Aunt Virginia, surrounded by their care. And then the ones where he’d been alone, telling himself the lie that he didn’t mind. He was a troll, large and awkward and weird. And that was absolutely fine. Now he had the promise of family and friendship and love. He smiled at the thought that he’d be spending his holidays with his very own beloved Christmas elf.
Epilogue
One year later.
“You taste like a candy cane.”To illustrate his point—or really, just because he wanted to—Tobias licked Alfie’s ribs.
Alfie, who was often ticklish, wiggled and laughed. “Keep doing that and I might fear that you’re trying to eat me up.”
“I already did,” replied Tobias smugly. “Once last night and then again?—”
