Page 60 of Under the Mistletoe
As if on cue, a rabbit stopped in the path ten feet ahead. It couldn’t be the same one, could it? It sniffed the ground a moment, then looked up at Astryn. One blue eye and one green. It only paused a second before it hopped back into the underbrush. Her father didn’t even notice as he prattled on about how the alliances could be strengthened. But all she could hear was the warning words.
The power is a gift, and it belongs to Origin. Don’t forget that when you are forced to make the same choice between life and love.
When. The message wasn’t a maybe. Shewouldbe forced to choose one day. But Astryn knew herself. She would always choose her kingdom.
ten
It had been a week since Devin had seen Logan. A week, and she was going crazy. She’d give about anything to just talk to him.
Devin scanned the three rows of long tables she’d set up in the community center with a miniature gingerbread house at each seat. The kids would start arriving at ten a.m. sharp, which left just over an hour to finish getting everything ready.
Thank goodness Janie had baked all the pieces, but Devin had only constructed half the number of houses they needed, plus they needed to make more meringue and lay out the candy.
She should have asked for more help like Nate had suggested, but a stressed-out Devin had returned to lone-wolf Devin. Because as much as she wanted to bring fire tenders into her life, she had been raised to believe differently.
Her phone chimed with an incoming text, and she snatched it up.Logan?
Mrs. Sanchez
The kids won’t make it to the event today. Sorry for last-minute notice.
Well, those were two houses she didn’t need to assemble before the event. She started to set her phone aside when the red dot by the text messages grabbed her attention. Had she missed two texts? She navigated to them, but neither was from Logan. More people in the program canceling.
She grabbed another piece of foil-covered cardboard from the pile and stuffed down the building pressure in her chest that was threatening to spill over. It was fine. She laid out the gingerbread pieces, squirted a thick bead of the white meringue frosting along the wall, and fit the pieces together. She held it a moment before moving on to the next wall.
Maybe she should call someone.
After all, people kept saying they weren’t justwillingbut also wanted to help. Maybe she needed to lean into that more. Logan had jumped in to help her even when he had a chapter due. But where was he now?
Even the new chapters that had appeared this week weren’t any clue. Rand was at his castle in Anathia, and Astryn was in Cambria planning for the wedding to Orin. Their romance was barely a blip. Every day closer to the wedding left Devin wanting to throw her phone against the wall.
She supposed the fact that new chapters kept showing up meant he was at least alive and unharmed. But the fact that he hadn’t returned even one text or call always landed back in the reality that they weren’t on the same page. Either that or he might be more like her parents than she realized. When work called, she was moved to the back burner.
She’d shifted from frustration to concern to anger and back so many times over the past week that she was beginning to feel a little unstable. And with all the cancellations today, what that could mean for her job didn’t help.
The door swung open, and in walked Greyson with his blond hair flopping in his eyes and his arms full of grocery bags from JJ’s. “Hey, Devin, Nate said to bring these over. Looks like a lot of candy.”
“Perfect.” She cleared her throat and motioned to an empty table. “Can you set it over there?”
He placed the bags where she indicated, then scanned the rows of mini houses. “Wow, that’s a lot of tiny houses.”
“Do you think they’re too small?” Devin eyed them again. They were only about four by five inches in the floor plan. “I figured this way each kid would have their own to decorate however they wanted.”
“I think they’ll love them.” He picked up one of the miniature houses and inspected it from every angle. “How many more do you have to put together?”
“Twenty—no, make that twelve.” Devin massaged her temple. It still didn’t feel like enough time.
“Do you have another bag of frosting?” Greyson pulled off his coat and gloves and tossed them on an empty table.
“I can’t ask you to?—”
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t ask.” He pulled out a chair opposite her and grabbed a piece of foiled cardboard. “Show me what to do.”
Devin made up another bag of meringue, then did a quick demonstration of how to assemble a house, and in no time, the work was going twice as fast.
The door opened, and a cold breeze followed Jess and Piper in.
“We’re here.” Jess unbuttoned her coat. “What needs”—her cousin swallowed as her eyes landed on Greyson—“done?”
