Page 24 of The Nightmare Before Kissmas
I finally look at him. Iknowhim, I know what he prioritizes and how he operates now, but there’s still a small part of me that pulses with hope that maybe this time, he’ll go back to the guy I remember as a child. The one who showed me around the different departments himself rather than shunting off the task on others while journalists recorded it. Who stood in front of that globe with me and made me believe that bringing happiness to the world was our purpose.
I don’t know what it’ll take for this spark of hope to extinguish.
Sometimes I wonder if my mom realizes how extensively she fucked things up when she left. Because the Christmas King Dad is now? Not even recognizable as the same man.
“You are duty-bound servants of Easter and Christmas,” Dad continues, “and this is the way you can fulfill that. It is a business transaction. Nothing more. I did allow you space in the hope that your relationship with Lily would rekindle, but enough time has passed. We are moving forward through other means.”
I laugh so hard it’s a gag. “My relationship with Lily was a disaster, and it wasn’t evenstagedlike this—how on earth do you expect this to turn out better?”
“Hm. That is a fair point.” Dad looks at Neo, and I’m dumbstruck, thinking he might haveheardme, when he goes, “We should consider the benefits against the ramifications of Lily’s presence at the wedding. She may stir up too many prior negative associations.”
I flinch. “The wedding?” I pause, gut seizing. “You already started planning it?”
Dad eyes me like I asked why doors have knobs. “Of course. You will court Iris throughout our Christmas activities these next weeks, then propose before the end of the month. You will be married at the Christmas Eve Ball.”
Holy fucking shit.
Marriedat the Christmas Eve Ball? Not justengagedby then, but fullymarried—
“You—” I can’t get a full sentence to settle. “I—”
Neo scratches his chin and continues, like I didn’t speak at all, “Lily is busy planning her own wedding. I am sure she would accept whatever we decide.”
“How about we askIrisif she wants her sister at her wedding?” I cut in, then groan at myself. “Except there shouldn’t evenbea wedding—in less than amonth? This is—”
“You do not understand the scope of what it means to bring a Holiday to an area where it was not previously”—Dad turns on me—“or to restrengthen places where it waned. There is a finite amount of joy in this world. Easter will be contributing a portion of their joy to Christmas’s efforts at extending our reach across the world—and, through that, Easter’s reach as well. It takes magic to deliver toys to children, and there are, as you well know, many,manychildren in need across the world.”
I wince. Dad lingers on that for a beat, and I half expect him to pull out a receipt of all the magic I wasted in New Koah, and all the magic it took tofixwhat I wasted.
“Do they get what they need, though?” I ask. “All this magic use—is itdoinganything? Is it really helping anyone?”
“It is one of our greatest hopes thateverychild receives a piece of Christmas magic,” Dad continues.
“Cheap plastic trinkets, you mean.” My neck is hot. “Gotta make sure the world has full access tostuff,both for Christmas and Easter.” I look at Neo, Iris. “That’s what selling off your daughter has bought. That’s all we’re capable of putting into the world. Cheap plastic shit—”
Iris’s grip on my hand is viselike. “Please,” she whispers, and I hear the pinch in her throat, the way she’s barely holding herself together.
My mouth snaps shut. I’m making this worse.
I slide my arm around her waist and we start to leave again.
“Iris,” her father calls.
She stops. I stop with her.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
A beat. Then she nods. “I want to hear what he has to say.”
I land a kiss on her head. “You know where to find me.”
She walks away, arms going to her sides, shoulders leveling in that perfect posture, that learned bearing. It stokes my rage again, that she has to cap herself with him.
Dad shakes his head. “I must return to the tree trimming. I suggest you do as well—the evening is far from over.”
Before I can refuse, he leaves in a huff like he has any reason to be upset.
I stomp towards Kris. “My suite. Now.”
