I shake my head, commiserating.
Hugh must’ve read my mind. “How do you think Kristal will handle her gift with a pandemic going on outside?”
Before I can answer, Krista comes over and grabs hold of Hugh. “Oh my Santa! Oh my Santa! You won’t believe who’s here! It’s Kristos!”
Hugh frowns down at his wife, “And Kristos is…?”
Krista lets out a frustrated huff. “I keep forgetting that he’s one of the few elves who insist on using his real name in the third dimension. But he’s, like, super famous. For owning that big company. What’s it called? You know the one that’s always sending us presents?”
I frown. Presents is the catchall term that elves use for packages of all kinds and also for little things like coffee and lunch deliveries. But there is a huge company that also calls packages presents as part of their branding. “Galatas?”
Krista snaps her fingers. “Yes, Galatas! That’s the name of the company.”
Hugh shakes his head at her. “You must be mistaken. Konstantine Galatas founded that company. And he is a horrible human being. I mean, the very definition of a Scrooge. He is definitely not an elf.”
“Yes, that’s why we don’t speak of him often. He’s kind of the anti-elf. But that’s his real name. I’ve no idea why he prefers it. Kristos Kringle sounds so much better, don’t you think?”
Hugh and I just stare at her, too stunned by the news that Konstantine Galatas is actually an elf. And Krista is too impatient for us to catch up.
She takes Hugh by the hand. “But the main point is, he’s here! And he’s glowing.”
With that little exclamation given, Krista takes Hugh by the hand and begins dragging him through the party.
Marian must’ve rubbed off on me. Too nosy to stay behind, I follow them, just as “River Deep, Mountain High” starts playing overhead.
And sure enough, there’s Konstantine Galatas standing by the buffet, which apparently isn’t a thing anymore in the now pandemic ridden third-dimension.
Really, he doesn’t appear elven at all. Kristal, Krista, and many of the male elves could be described as cute, happy, and warm. However, Konstantine looks exactly the opposite of that. He has dark hair and a thick beard and stands nearly a foot taller than every other male elf at the party, which gives him a rather villainous cast. He’s also scowling as if all the cheer and goodwill in the air have put him in a particularly bad mood. No, he doesn’t strike me as elvish in the least. And though, we’ve never met, his reputation as a cold and merciless tech titan appear to be well earned.
Even more shocking than that, Kristal is standing with him. And she has her sketchbook out.
My heart pangs when I see her drawing. She’s been worried about this party all day. She almost didn’t come after she heard about the pandemic because she didn’t want to spend the entire time handing out soon-to-be-departed sketches.
But for some reason, she isn’t looking sorrowful or apologetic as we approach. In fact, she looks happy.
25.12.2021
The date drops into my head all of a sudden. Buzzing like a zap of electricity. And a new sensation takes over my arm. It’s an urge, I realize. An urge to write something down. No, not something. The date in my head. I want—no, I desperately need to write it down.
What the…
“Hayato, you won’t believe this!” Kristal calls out when she sees me. “Check it out!”
She holds up a sheet of paper to me, revealing not a sketch of an adult… but a baby.
I shake my head, not understanding.
“You have a baby?” I ask Konstantine Galatas. Who will die soon? I add silently, too horrified to say it out loud.
“No, I don’t have a baby,” Konstantine grumbles. “Everyone here is being crazy. As usual. I knew it was a mistake to come back.”
“It’s not a sketch of a soon to be departed one,” Kristal tells me, her voice excited and breathless. “It’s a picture of someone who’s about to be born. Krista’s gift changed when she got pregnant. And I guess mine has too. For the much, much better.”
“Just remember. Pregnancy doesn’t erase your gift from Santa. It only changes it.”
Marian’s words echo through my mind. And suddenly I know where to write down the date buzzing inside of my head.
I solemnly take the pencil from the mother of my child and write down the date in the top right corner of her sketch.
Then I tear the sheet of paper off and present it with a bow to one of the richest men in the world, Japanese-style with both hands underneath the paper.
“Here, Kristos,” Kristal says beside me. “This is for you.”
“Also, you’re glowing super bright, which means your true love must be somewhere at this party!” Krista claps her hands in a way that reminds me of Marian. Even more so when she exclaims, “Oooh, I can’t wait to see who your True Love match is!”
Oh. My. Santa!!! Please join us at the end of 2021 for the third and final season of the loving elves series, TWELVE YEARS OF KRISTOS!
Thank you so much for reading
TWELVE MONTHS OF KRISTAL
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the book that introduced the world to Marian,
HIS EVERLASTING LOVE
I’m so thrilled that Kristal and Hayato finally got their happy ending!
This story has been waiting such a long time to be told. And though I thought I knew what it would be when Hayato presented as a hero with a huge, ghostly secret, the final plot twist was a surprise even for me.
Hayato isn't the first character to keep a big secret from me until the very end, but I was genuinely SHOCKED when he finally told me who Jae-Hyun really was.
Did you guess the big secret? Please let me know on Facebook if you did.
And thank you so very, very much to all the readers who encouraged me to keep going with this story, even when I was pulled away by other projects.
I am so blessed to be your writer, and I can't tell you how much finally finishing this story meant to me.
Thank you again for being the best sister readers on Earth.
So much love,
Theodora
Sneak Peek of His Everlasting Love
"I don't know why I'm so obsessed with you, Willa Harper. Or why I can't let the thought of us being together go. But one thing's for sure, no matter what tries to keep us apart...I'll find you."
— Sawyer Grant
Med School dropout. Daughter of the town crazy lady. And, oh yeah, super secret member of the “I Can See Ghosts” Club. The very last thing Willa needs is for Sawyer Grant, the hot jock who made her life miserable in high school, to come roaring back into her life on a Harley.
But the gorgeous bully is now a wounded veteran after his stint in the Navy SEALs—tortured and in need of the kind of care only she can provide with her unique gifts.