Elemental (12 page)

“No,
you don’t understand,” his tone reflected his frustration as he obviously
struggled to find the right words. “Your life has been changed now. Now that our
souls are bonded you will live for however long I do.”

Mandy
tried to absorb what he was telling her, but could only come up with… “So, you
made me immortal?”

“Not
quite. You’re still human, nothing has changed on that front, but your life
force is tied directly to mine now, and vice versa. As long as you remain
healthy and avoid any fatal accidents, then you could potentially live for
hundreds of years with me. You’ll even retain your youth for much longer than
normal,” he explained, holding her a little tighter. “We could have many, many
children with that kind of time.”

Live
for hundreds of years? Have many children? The very idea was intriguing and
frightening, but Mandy knew she could handle it. She could handle anything as
long as she had Nicolas by her side.

Mandy
turned her head and gave Nicolas a cheeky grin over her shoulder. “Well then, I
hope you don’t get tired of me anytime soon, because it looks like you’re stuck
with me now.”

Nicolas
bent and kissed her soundly. “And I couldn’t be happier about it.”

After
taking a leisurely bath, where Nicolas insisted on feeding her, they then
enjoyed washing each other and basking in the afterglow still lingering.
Christmas Eve was the next day, and Mandy was looking forward to her Christmas
wish more than ever before.

* * * *

Nicolas
and Jonathan each held a clear glass ornament, studying it as a small child
would a bug. “You want us to do what?” Jonathan asked.

“First
you take a small slip of paper and write down your Christmas wish. Once you’re
done, you take the top off of the ornament, roll up your wish loosely and stick
it inside. Put the top back on, and then just decorate it however you want.
Don’t forget to put the year on your ornament,” Mandy instructed. “With the
paper rolled loosely, it should open enough to see your wish inside. After New
Year’s Day, when all of the ornaments are being packed away, you can see if you
got your Christmas wish. If not by then, then perhaps it will come true in the
coming year.” She shrugged, picking up her own ornament. “It’s a tradition I
started for myself when I was younger. I guess it just gave me something to
look forward too. I never asked for anything big, just stuff like good grades,
maybe a raise at work, you know, little stuff.”

Nicolas
leaned over and whispered, “What if I already have part of my wish?”

Mandy
blushed, “Well, then I suggest you ask for the rest of it.”

“Oh,
I intend to.” The devilish smile he gave her left Mandy wondering what the rest
of his wish would entail, and she was looking forward to finding out.

Everyone
began to pass around all of the craft supplies and Mandy noticed that Garrett
was missing. “Where’s Garrett? He needs to come and do his ornament too.”

“I
believe he’s in the kitchen,” Jonathan replied. “I’ll go and get him.”

Garrett
emerged from the kitchen with Jonathan trailing behind. “Did you need
something?
 
Perhaps
some cider to go along with your project?”

“Nope,
we just need you.” At his perplexed look, Mandy explained. “If we’re going to
be a family, and I hope that we are, then you need to be involved in every
aspect of this family. That includes making ornaments with us.”

The
smiles on Jonathan’s and Nicolas’ faces told her she had made a good decision,
and she carefully placed an ornament in front of an empty seat, waiting for
Garrett to come over. His face was easily read as a multitude of emotions
flitted over his features. Confusion, acceptance, gratitude, and love all
played out until he rewarded her with a big grin, making him look years younger
as he finally came over to sit down.

“This
should be fun,” he exclaimed. “I haven’t done crafts since these two were kids.
Let me tell you, that’s been some time ago.” He laughed, the brothers joining
him.

“How
long ago?”
Mandy found herself asking. They were
immortals, yet they didn’t appear to be much older than
herself
,
so how old could they possibly be?

“Um,
let me see, they should be turning eight hundred and thirteen this coming year,
I believe.”

Eight
hundred and thirteen, as in years?
Would she be capable
of living to see that age?

“I’m
a little younger than these two,” Anna chimed. “I’ll be five-hundred and
sixty-three this year.”

“I
think I’ll skip on the whole age reveal, if you don’t mind,” Garrett mumbled,
drawing a few snickers from the brothers.

“I
guess that makes me the baby of the family, then. I’m only twenty-two,” Mandy
felt a little like an odd-man-out, being the youngest in the crowd, but Nicolas
quickly banished that.

“You’ll
be able to dazzle people with your age eventually. Not that we go around announcing
our age or anything, but you know what I mean.” Nicolas gave her a wink and
began jotting down something on his small slip of paper. “There, my wish is
ready.”

Mandy
quickly explained the project to Garrett, who loved the idea and dove into the
making of his own ornament.

The
day continued with them enjoying all of the things that families did during the
holidays. The women retired to the kitchen for some last minute baking while
the men tried their hand at wrapping. They finished decorating the massive
tree, only pausing for a moment when they realized the top of the tree was
rather bare.

Most
of them were incapable of reaching that high, but the ten foot top was nothing
for Mandy. Using her telekinesis, she managed to perch the star on top and even
hung a few extra ornaments to even out the décor. With the presents littering
the floor all around the tree, their multi-colored wrappings adding to the
holiday cheer, the only thing more dazzling than the array of boxes and bags
was the lights twinkling once Garrett turned them on.

“There.”
Anna clapped. “It’s perfect!”

“This
is quite nice, indeed,” Garrett added. “But now all little girls and boys
should be retiring to their beds for the night.”

Mandy
smiled as Nicolas and Jonathan rolled their eyes. It was clear to see how much
the three men cared for one another. There were no hugs, no words of
endearment, but you could see it in their eyes every time they looked at each
other.

“Mandy,
are you ready to head to bed?” Nicolas’ husky voice drew a blush to her cheeks
and she couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Sure.”
She rose from her seat and accepted his hand, allowing him to lead her from the
room. At the top of the stairs, he turned to the left and Mandy frowned. “Where
are we going?”

“To
our room,” he replied, as if the answer should be obvious.

“But,
my room was the other way.”

“Our
room is down here,” his emphasis on the word finally sank in.

Mandy
supposed that it was rather silly to think that she would remain in a room
separate from his now that they were an official couple. With butterflies in
her tummy, she followed Nicolas down the long hallway to the arched doorway at
the end.

While
most of the doors in the castle had been modernized with regular doorknobs,
this one still boasted an ornate—and clearly antique—iron ring where the knob
should be. The wood was stained a dark brown, yet obviously older than the
other doors along the hall.

“This
is a little different from the room you were in before. My room is two levels
out of necessity, since this is one of the towers,” he explained.

“Your
room is in the tower?” How cool was that?

“It
was one of my favorite places growing up, so when it was just Jonathan and I
here, I decided to do a little remodeling and make it into a suite.” Nicolas
shrugged and opened the door to their right. “There’s no plumbing in the tower,
so the bathroom and closets are through here.” The room was set up with a few
dressers, a vanity table, an antique wardrobe, and the walls held racks and
shelves, making it the biggest walk-in closet she’d ever seen. “The bathroom is
through that door there. I think you’ll love the renovations I did in there,
but we’ll get to that later. Right now I want to show you the tower.” Closing
the door again, Nicolas then ushered her through the arched doorway into what
would be their room.

Mandy
made it all of about three feet into the room before she froze.

Amazing
didn’t even begin to describe this room. It looked like it was straight from a
movie set. The room itself was round, with a sitting area consisting of a dark
green sofa, a cream overstuffed chair and ottoman, a large mahogany desk,
matching shelves specially made to hug the rounded walls, and a tall, slender
window on the far wall that let in a miniscule amount of light.

Noting
her interest in the window, Nicolas explained. “That is known as an arrow slit.
It was used by the archers to pick off the approaching enemy, but I had glass
installed when I converted it into my room.” Moving past her, Nicolas took her
hand and led her to a set of stairs off to the left. She followed him up the
narrow flight and gaped anew at the sight of his bedroom.

There
was a massive bed, which could easily hold four adults, specially made to hug
the wall with its rounded headboard, and a slew of multi-colored pillows were
strewn about the room making it resemble a harem room more than a bedroom.
Plush rugs covered the stone floors and a small fireplace was glowing off to
the side. This was a room made with comfort and…with seduction in mind.

That
thought chilled Mandy. Had he seduced many women here during his eight hundred
years? She knew it was unfair to wish that he had come to her as pure as she’d
came to him, but jealousy wasn’t exactly a rational feeling.

“Do
you like this?” Nicolas asked, looking nervously around the room. “I saw it in
a magazine talking about women’s fantasies and figured that I would try it. You
know, with the way Jonathan was insisting we were made for each other, I
figured it couldn’t hurt. If you don’t like it then we can change it back. My
room was so sparse before that I think a monk would have complained, so I had
to do something.”

A
sigh of relief whooshed out of her and Mandy turned to hug Nicolas’ neck. He’d
done this for her, to try and impress her and woo her, not for anyone else. “It’s
beautiful, but it’s not very masculine, perhaps a compromise? I feel that there
needs to be more in here for you too.”

“Sure,
we can do that. Now let me show you what’s behind this door.” Nicolas pulled
back a tapestry that hung on one wall to reveal a small alcove and a door. When
he opened it and waved her ahead, he scooped up a blanket and followed. It took
her a moment to realize just where they were while he wrapped the blanket
around her shoulders, but when it finally clicked she gasped.

They
were on the castle wall! All around them snowflakes fell, leaving a fluffy pile
on the walkway and Mandy felt like a medieval princess huddled in her cloak and
looking out over the land. Yup, she was a sucker for fairytales. “This is
amazing,” she whispered in awe. “It’s so beautiful up here.”

“You’re
beautiful,” Nicolas bent down to kiss her and Mandy felt herself melt into his
embrace. “I like to come out here and just look at the stars on some nights,”
he admitted, before his blue eyes zeroed in on her with carnal intent.
“Tonight, though, I want us to make this room ours in every way possible.”

Her
stomach did that funny little flip again at his roughly spoken words. Oh what
this man’s voice could do to her. “That sounds like a good plan to me.”

By
the time they both collapsed onto the bed, the room had most definitely been
claimed by them. Mandy’s body ached in the most delicious places and she was
sure she would be sore the next day as well, but it was worth it. He was worth
it.

Chapter Ten

Christmas
day arrived and Mandy awoke to the sun’s rays streaking through the stained
glass window in their room. The bright colors created a kaleidoscope effect
when combined with the many pillows scattered about.

Enjoying
the beauty of the morning rays, she rolled to her right and snuggled into
Nicolas’ side. The warm colors danced across his chest and she found herself
reaching up to trace the dips and valleys of his muscles.

Her
hand slowly traveled up, fingers combing through the soft curls on his chest,
only to pause when she saw a sparkle from the corner of her eye.

There,
on her left hand—on a very important finger—sat a dazzling diamond solitaire.
Shifting her hand to get a better look, Mandy watched, stunned, as the light
moved through the stone like an inner fire.

“Mandy?”