“Yes, Santa,” she said, “after marching for hours through the colder-than-Christmas North Pole that exists on the human realm, I found a small penguin that needed my help. The baby chick had been abandoned somehow and I couldn’t just leave her to die so I tied my scarf around her and sought shelter in a nearby cave. It wasn’t long till he showed up,” she gestured to where Medjed was sitting, “and yes, I sort of just knew when I looked at him.”
She sighed heavily. Candy did not have to look at him to know exactly where he was. His scent wrapped around her spicier and cinnamon-ier than any gingerbread or snickerdoodle she’d ever had. So rich and enticing, like nothing else in the universe, she admitted even if only to herself.
“Go on, Candy,” Santa encouraged.
“Well, it was like he said. Love at first sight, for me anyway,” she huffed despite Medjed’s growly objection, “then this morning he stepped outside and as you all know, we Elves have superior hearing, pointed ears and all, and, well, I heard him,” she sniffed.
“Heard him?” Santa asked.
“Yes, he was on the phone with his other mate! The lousy two-timing snowball cruncher!” She yelled and couldn’t help but sniff and bite back the tears that stung her eyes.
“I have no other mate!” Roared Medjed.
“I heard what you said. You and your friend said no one could ever replace Carolina in your heart as your first mate, you, you rotten ginger-berry sucking, ice-munching narwhal humper!”
It was the crowning cusswords of all cusswords in the North Pole and Candy was not proud of herself, but boy was she angry. The Elves surrounding them could hardly believe she had uttered such a phrase, but there it was.
The whole, ugly, yellow-stained-snow, stinking, belated-Christmas-present, underwear-and-sock-gift-giving truth! Out in the open for everyone to see.
Sniff.
“Ooh!”
“Oh my!”
“Fluffernutter!”
Her one fated mate was so not true. He was a two-timer and Candy was a fool.
“I am sorry for leaving, Santa,” she said and turned her back on a red-faced Medjed, “I will take my punishment. I know when midnight strikes we will disappear back to the holiday plane and I will never be allowed back here again.”
Candy whimpered and wiped her eyes, desperate to get away from her heartache, and truth be told, all its witnesses. Especially him.
“If that is what you want,” Santa stood, but suddenly the workshop was taken over by a whipping wind full of warm golden sand.
The Elves yelped and gasped, many had never seen real desert sand, and Candy was taken by surprise.
“Wait!” Medjed stood up and she turned to see him surrounded by bronze light, and the circling sands that seemed to emanate from him, “Don’t I get to speak?”
“Of course you do, son, but please tone down the fireworks, will you? Ho ho ho, ” Santa laughed.
“I don’t want to listen to him, Santa,” Candy said, but her boss narrowed his eyes, and pointed to the chair.
Candy knew better than to argue. Having been on the naughty list once or twice over the centuries, it was nowhere she wanted to be. Candy was not a fan of coal. It was terrible for the environment and hell on her skin.
“I am Medjed, Warrior and Guard of the House of Osiris, Sword of the Underworld, and you, rohi, are my one and only true mate. What you heard with your magnificently pointed ears was half a conversation, and had you asked me, I would have gladly explained it to you,” he said and she could sense both his anger and amusement.
“Like I wanted to give you another chance to lie to me,” she stomped.
“I do not lie, rohi, never and certainly not to you. You are part of my very own soul, and since when can a man, demon, or demigod, lie to himself?” He asked and she found herself wavering.
“What I said this morning on the phone to my good friend and blood brother, Jasper Wessex, was that I felt about my own rohi the same way he felt about his wife and mate. Her name is Carolina. Then, my brother made a joke about when we first met. You see, I had mistaken his mate for my own as she was the woman who freed me from a magical scroll that had served as my prison for a millennium. I swear to you, rohi, though I love the Wessex Clan as my family, I have never loved another as my mate. You, sweet Candy are she and I vow here and now, in front of the great and terrible San Ta Claws, that you are the true and fated mate of my heart and my soul. I promise to worship, protect, and love you with every inch of my heart, body, mind, and soul until my own light fades out of existence. This I vow, rohi, and I will wear my vow on my skin as Nut wears our destinies on her,” as he spoke bright golden swirls of magic circled his biceps and right before her eyes a new hieroglyph appeared on his skin as if etched with gold.
The cryptographs were suddenly clear to her and she was able to read them through the magic of their shared matebond. It was their story, the fated mates written in the stars who met under odd circumstances but shared a love like the world had never seen.
“This is the story of you, me, of us. This is my sword, rohi,” he pointed to one of the markings, “and I pledge it to you alone. I am capable of no greater vow,” he said and to her surprise the mighty Egyptian warrior demon knelt before Candy.
He looked up at her with sparkling amber colored eyes and his spicy cinnamon fragrance filling the air and her heart melted. Could she have been wrong about him? Was Granny right after all, that this man was her heart’s true mate?
“Oh, Medjed,” she said and went to go to him, but a certain pudgy someone stopped her.
“One moment,” Santa said and the two lovers looked into the head Elf’s twinkling blue eyes. One was angry, and the other confused, “perhaps a mint, Candy?”
He said and offered a small, wrapped piece of confection to the Christmas Elf. All at once she knew what she had to do.
“Oh my! Would you like one?” She said biting her lip as she offered Medjed the truth mint that Jolly had slipped into her pack before she’d headed out on her journey.
“Certainly, rohi,” Medjed smiled and accepted the candy from her hands.
“How do you feel now? About us?” She asked watching him for any sign that his feelings had changed.
“More in love with you by the second, mate of mine,” he took her hands in his large, warm ones and Candy could not stop smiling, “Tell me now, love, will you come with me to visit my adoptive Earthly family? I would very much like to present you to them as my one and only mate, my love.”
“Oh, I would like that very much, but Santa? Is that possible?”
Medjed stood up then holding her lightly around the waist, but she could feel his intense stare as he looked down his nose at her boss.
“Easy there, son, I have a feeling you and I have a long way to go before there is trust between us, but I am willing. For Candy’s sake,” he winked, “now take this here,” he said and handed Candy what looked like a small pill dispenser, “that is a never-ending supply of TEZ, that’s short for Teleportation Energy Zips that will allow you to travel to and from the village in the blink of an eye regardless of the time of year.”
“But I thought that magic ended at midnight tonight?” She gasped.
“No, that rule is just for the whole village, Candy. I can wink a few Elves, and even an ancient Egyptian demon warrior, back and forth from one plane to the other without expending too much magic, you know, I am Santa Claus.”