Chapter Thirty-Two
“Do the Folk celebrate Christmas?” I asked Lonan one night when we were in the kitchen.
He glanced over from where he was ladling tea into his mug at the cauldron. “Not the way mortals do. We have the Winter Solstice on the shortest day of the year.”
I groaned. “Does that mean another party?”
Lonan huffed a little amused sound as he joined me at the table. “Yes, unfortunately.”
“The Winter Solstice is just before Christmas, though, isn’t it? On the twenty-first of December? So maybe we could do something a few days after.” I grinned at him. “A little Yule celebration. That sounds more fae than Christmas.”
I was already thinking about what we could do. Would I be able to find a little fir tree to decorate? I could make some decorations and buy others in the village. I could make mulled wine, and orange and clove pomanders to hang so that the cottage would smell like my old house used to at Christmas.
My eyes slid over to the cauldron.
“I could try and make a Christmas pudding in the cauldron. You wrap them in cloth and boil them, right?” I asked, even though I doubted Lonan would know. Then I made a face. “Although Mags used to start making it in, like, September. It probably wouldn’t be very good if I made it now.”
Lonan reached across the table and curled his fingers around mine. They were warm from his mug.
“We’ll do whatever you want. And it will still be good, I’m sure.” He paused. “What’s a Christmas pudding?”
I laughed. “It’s dried fruit and spices and suet. And alcohol—brandy, I think.”
Lonan’s nose wrinkled very slightly before he could hide it. He cleared his throat and had a sip of tea.
“That sounds—” He stopped, unable to get the lie out, which made me laugh. “We’ll make it,” he said instead with a small smile.
“I’ll see if I can get all the ingredients the next time I go to the village,” I said, stealing Lonan’s tea to have a sip. “And try and find you a present.”
“Present? We give presents?”
Lonan’s black eyes were more alert. His hand drifted up to fiddle with a button on his shirt.
I smiled, pushing his mug back towards him. “You don’t have to get me anything.”
That just earned me a flat look from him, which made me laugh.
“Seriously, I don’t want anything.” I got out of my seat and rounded the table to slip onto his lap, wrapping my arms round his neck. “Just you.”
One of Lonan’s hands settled on my thigh while the other slid up my back beneath my shirt.
“I want you to have whatever you want.” He kissed my temple, nose nuzzling into my hair. “And you should always accept gifts from the Folk. It offends us otherwise.”
I laughed, turning my head to kiss him. Lonan’s mouth moulded to mine, the fingers on my thigh tightening before they slid up.
“I’ll even try your fruit and meat pudding,” he said when we parted. “If it will make you happy.”
I stared at him. My heart started thudding hard in my chest as I swallowed around the lump in my throat.
Lonan went still. His fine brows twitched into a tiny frown, black eyes searching mine. “Ash?”
“I love you.”
The words burst out of me. I was breathing too fast. But I’d said them now, so I persevered.
“I know—I don’t know if the Folk can…” I swallowed again. “But I do. I love you.”
Lonan was frozen, his fingers digging hard into my thigh. Silence filled the room, broken only by the low crackle of the fire. My face was hot, and I tried hard to ignore the painful squeezing in my chest as I started to slide off his lap.