All around them, people were talking in delight. Every now and then, an arm would shoot up into the air and another dragon would find a new home.

Claire leaned against Raul, watching the small event with delight.

“Makes you wish you could live here all year round, doesn’t it?” she said softly.

“It’s a bit too cold for that.” Raul pretended to shiver. Then he pressed his cheek against her hair, wrapping his arms around her once more. “But I know what you mean. It feels like a good place to live. With good people.”

“But they already have a dragon.” Claire watched fondly as a five-year-old with adorable black curls bounded up the stairs to retrieve the dragon her grandmother had just won. “If they didn’t, though... Is this the sort of place you could see yourself living in?”

Raul was quiet for a moment. She wondered what he thought. He’d told her about his past, but it still seemed strange to her that he should feel so unmoored. After all, most people were able to settle down and find a home, without any treasure of their own.

And if they were to settle down together—would he forever regret it? Would he be the kind of guy who’d forever long for something he couldn’t have?

“You know,” he said finally, sounding a little surprised, “I actually think I could. Even with all the snow. Don’t tell Henrik though. We dragons are very territorial.”

She touched the golden chain around her neck, smiling a little. “A compromise then,” she said lightly. “Snow in the winter, sun in the summer.”

“You would have loved my family’s old place.” Raul sounded wistful. “There was another mountain town nearby, but not quite as snowy as this place. We only got snow in the winter, and there were hot springs so that even in winter, you could bathe. And in the summer, it was glorious, the sun shining down on mountain meadows, rainbows glistening over waterfalls, the air rich with the scent of wild flowers. But after our hoard was stolen, we couldn’t keep the place—it wouldn’t have been fair to drag everyone on that mountain down into bankruptcy with us. My grandfather and then my dad used to make sure that everyone had a job, but without our money... My dad sold our house to an investor. I haven’t been back since, I couldn’t bear it. I hope life’s been treating them well. It’s hard for mountain towns in this economy...”

Silently, she turned in his arms to look at him.

I should have known. He isn’t someone who’s moping over lost money. He’s just someone who cares. A lot.

“We’ll find a place we both love,” she said softly, winding her own arm around his back in reassurance.

In his eyes, she could still see the gleam of distant flames, and for a moment, she could see him soar—a dragon like a living flame, riding the currents of air above a generous house built on a mountain meadow.

What must it be like to lose that freedom? The only time she’d seen him shift, she’d been terrified, thinking she was plunging to her death.

But even despite the overwhelming terror, she couldn’t forget the majesty of him. He’d been a creature of power, graceful and dangerous as he beat his wings and rode the wind.

All of a sudden, it seemed incredibly unfair that someone, long ago, had stolen this from him. Maybe she couldn’t understand what it meant to lose a dragon’s hoard—but she could understand what it felt like to lose her freedom.

If I could no longer do my job, if I were to lose everything I’ve worked so long and so hard for...

His face softened as he looked at her. His eyes still shone with warmth, but the ghostly sheen of distant flames was gone.

“We will,” he said with determination. “Maybe we won’t have a mountain of our own, but we’ll have a home. A real home, with neighbors like these.”

Warmth rushed through Claire, and she nodded voicelessly. The strange connection between them had sprung to life once more, and she could feel his love and protectiveness rush into her, filling her with heat until it felt like his love burned as brightly as a bonfire.

Treasure or no, her mate was all hers, and she’d find a way to make up for the loss of his childhood home.

“Now this is a special dragon,” the mayor announced.

Together, she and Raul turned—just in time to glimpse a tiny dragon catching the light, gleaming a bright red that turned to orange at his breast.

“This one was made by little Anna over there. She told me she glued a hundred different glass pearls to her dragon. Look how he sparkles.” Again the mayor raised the dragon up high. It caught the light, each pearl reflecting it back in a hundred different shades of red, orange and yellow.

Claire tightened her hands around Raul’s arm in delight.

“This one,” she declared. “This one is mine.”

“Oh?” her neighbor said—the same man who’d interrupted the mayor earlier, and who was apparently his son. He gave her a challenging grin as he raised his hand. “A hundred dollars,” he called out.

“Rude,” Claire said, glaring at him, a smile tugging at her lips. He'd clearly caught on to the fact that they were representing the castle this year.

“Two hundred,” she shouted in return, smirking at him.

He crossed his arms. “Five hundred.”

“One thousand,” she called out, raising her chin.

“Whoa, not so fast,” the mayor said, chuckling. “Give an old man time to catch up. So, the current bid is one thousand dollars—one thousand dollars from the Snow Castle, I gather?”

The crowd cheered when Claire nodded.

She could feel Raul’s warmth at her back. The auction had filled her with a rush of excitement—and even if it was just a game to drive her donation up, it had woken a hidden streak of competitiveness in her.

The dragon up for auction was clearly meant for her, after all. She couldn’t possibly let anyone else walk away with a gorgeous, fire-breathing red dragon.

As if he’d read her thoughts, Raul’s arms tightened around her.

No, Raul was going nowhere. He was right where he belonged—as was she.

“Two thousand,” the man next to her now called out.

She smirked at him. “Five thousand.”

For a moment, he hesitated. Had his children distracted him earlier, or had he heard how Raul had told her that she could go up to one hundred thousand dollars?

“Six thousand,” he then said, looking a little worried when Claire didn’t immediately speak up in return.

Claire could feel Raul trying to stifle a laugh, his body shaking faintly against hers.

“Ten thousand,” she finally called out.

The man released a relieved sigh and remained silent.

“Ten thousand,” the mayor said, his voice carrying over the crowd. A new wave of cheers erupted at the amount. “Do I hear another bid? No? Three, two, one... and sold! Sold to the Snow Castle! Congratulations! Now if you will please follow my elf here for the formalities—and we’ll continue with this fine specimen of a dragon. Crafted by my grandson Jonah, decorated with gold and blue glitter—and look at that! Little wings made from lace. Very inventive, Jonah.”

As the crowd applauded again, Claire found herself walking along with the elf who’d come to fetch her. It was a woman in her forties, curvy, with long, curly black hair.

“I’m so glad you could fit this into your schedule,” the elf called Marsha said, beaming as they stopped at another table, away from where the crowd had gathered. “Henrik told me he’d send a check, and to pick a dragon for him if his friend couldn’t make it—but it’s so much nicer for the children to see someone from the castle come down for the bidding. Especially someone like you.”

She gave Raul a little wink, and Claire found herself filled with surprise and a small hint of jealousy when she realized that this stranger had immediately recognized Raul. What would it be like to grow up, knowing that dragons were real? A childhood here in Christmas Valley had to be truly magical.

“It’s the eyes,” she then told Claire in a staged whisper. “Gives them away every time. If you know what to look for, that is. Of course, the mayor told me that Henrik had made sure that there was one of his kind around while he was gone. It wouldn’t feel right otherwise—there’s always been a dragon here. Even when Henrik wouldn’t leave his castle for years, at least we always knew he was still there.”

Once the paperwork was done—Claire sneakily adding another zero to the check she wrote while the elf beamed at her—she was handed her little dragon figurine, all carefully wrapped up in paper and stowed in a box.

“Now Christmas can come. That’s the most important thing done,” Raul said. He reached out for her hand, and she gladly allowed his heat to wrap around her. “Want to see the rest of the auction?”

Claire nodded. “I’d love to. I’m really glad you introduced me to this. I was so busy up at the castle that I had no idea what was going on down here. I would have hated missing this.”

As they returned to watch more dragons find a new home, one by one, the streetlights went out. At last, the small square was lit only by the millions of fairy lights up in the trees and decorating the houses. Then, every child produced a candle, which were lit one by one.

The effect was incredible. With the darkness of the winter night surrounding them, the cold air biting at their cheeks, suddenly they found themselves standing in a sea of lights. All around them, tiny faces were lit up with excitement.

Claire leaned into Raul’s embrace, imagining for a moment the wonder of raising a child in a community like this—a place she wouldn’t have to leave after a year, where neighbors would become real friends, and not just acquaintances that would forget her as soon as she moved on.

She wrapped her arms around where Raul’s arms crossed over her chest. It was still snowing very lightly, but far above them, she could now see the stars. With the streetlights turned off, they were brilliant and bright, and Claire suddenly found herself searching for a shooting star.

If I can have one wish, then it would be to find a home like this—a home with him.

Then, softly at first and then growing in volume, the children began to sing. The first verse of Holy Night filled the air, and sudden goosebumps appeared on her arms when right above her, Claire saw a bright light appear, trailing through the sky before it was gone again in the blink of an eye.

A shooting star...

She turned in Raul’s arms, looking up at his handsome face while the gentle voices wrapped all around them. The harmonies carried up into the night sky while she felt herself sinking into the warmth of Raul’s eyes. After the final note had faded away, he kissed her very gently.

She was so happy she suddenly had to bite back tears. When was the last time she’d felt so peaceful?

“It’s nothing,” she said at his questioning gaze. “I just saw a star fall. That’s good luck.”

“Did you make a wish?”

She nodded, not daring to give voice to what she’d wished for. Perhaps it was just a silly, old superstition... But she wanted her wish to come true, more than she’d ever wanted anything in the world.

***

After their peaceful evening down in Christmas Valley, Claire was buried under an ever increasing mountain of work.

“It’s like that every year,” she sighed. “The holidays always creep up on you. Just wait until New Year’s is done with. We should get at least a week of calm before Henrik and Dara return to take over.”

Raul grimaced as he heaved a pile of papers into a bag, sneezing at the cloud of dust that escaped. “Couldn’t they have hired someone else to deal with their old paperwork?”

“That's what they hired me for,” Claire said and laughed.

Raul grumbled, dusting off his jeans. “They could have hired a helper for you.”

“I think that’s where you come in,” Claire pointed out, then triumphantly placed another long-lost receipt in her small pile of things to keep.

“I’m just here as the resident dragon. No one mentioned menial work. Or dust.”

Claire grinned at his complaints, but then indulged him by coming over and pretending to brush the dust out of his hair.

Of course Raul immediately used the chance to wrap his arms around her, kissing her until she melted against his body, the paperwork forgotten for a few blissful moments.

Then a knock came on the door, and Claire hastily stepped back, straightening her shirt while glaring at him.

“Bad dragon!” she said. “Too distracting. They should have warned me. Never hire a dragon as a helper. That must be why Santa employs reindeer.”

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a figure of a Santa who mechanically waved at her and then began to sing We wish you a merry Christmas, the sound tinny but accompanied by blinking lights.

“Thought you could use some Christmas cheer,” the Santa then said in a muffled voice.

“Uh... thank you,” Claire said, still staring at the Santa, not quite sure whether it really was the Santa who’d suddenly talked.

Then, a moment later, the figure began to sway dangerously. Raul jumped forward and a second later, their accountant Malcolm was revealed behind the giant Santa, who was now resting on his side, held by both men, and still singing merrily.

“Maybe not in my office,” she said weakly. “Can you put him down here, outside my door?”

“Great idea! Greeting everyone with some Christmas cheer,” Malcolm said, sweating profusely.

More like an early warning sign for surprise visitors...

“Thank you,” she then said when the Santa was put in place.

“How are the preparations coming along?” Malcolm asked. “For the snowball fight in the maze? You’re both still taking part, right? Special prizes for adults, kids and teenagers to keep it fair.”

Raul grinned. “We’ll have to take care not to win—I think that would look bad. But no harm in joining the fun.”

“Makes you look approachable,” the accountant said, nodding eagerly. “Prime marketing idea. Not that I know much of marketing. But it’s a great idea. Wonderful, in fact. I’ll be there myself, trying to get some pictures—you won’t mind, I’m sure, and I’ll forward them all to you. You could use them in the next brochure for the tourism board—”

“That’ll be great,” Claire said warmly, trying to cut through his talk.

She still didn’t know what to make of the accountant.

He seemed to do his work well enough and had talked her through every problem related to the castle’s paperwork that had popped up. But in all other things, he seemed strangely manic. She still didn’t know much about him as a person—for some reason, he always managed to steer conversations away from him, and back to her and Raul, or the castle’s future.

It’s like he’s desperately trying to make friends. Which means I should be nicer to him... He probably doesn't have many, and he’s all alone up here at the castle for at least another week.

“Tomorrow at five. I trust you won’t be late,” Malcolm said brightly. “You are taking part, aren't you?”

Claire bit back any impatience. She should be more compassionate. It was probably the first event he’d taken part in.

“Definitely,” she reassured him. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world! And we’re looking forward to seeing you there. You’ve been a great help finding a sponsor. The kids will be so pleased with those prizes.”

“And the adults,” Malcolm said proudly. “Real diamond snowflake pendant. Now don't work too hard today—busy day tomorrow for all of us!”

He jokingly wagged his finger at them, and Claire laughed obediently.

Then he was gone, the Santa outside her room breaking out into song once more.

She took a deep breath and counted to ten. The Santa was still going.

“I could just... vanish him,” Raul suggested.

“Our accountant? I thought you didn’t eat humans,” Claire said.

Raul laughed. “The Santa. And I wouldn’t eat an accountant. Best way to get heartburn.”

Despite her weariness, Claire snickered.

“He’s got a point, you know,” she then said. “We deserve a bit of a break. Lunch out at the frozen lake today? Maybe I can even find Dylan—ever since he’s made friends, he’s all but forgotten about his laptop. And his homework. But I guess spending time outside is at least healthier than just playing games all day long.”

“I can’t wait,” Raul said, his voice warm as he drew her back into his arms.

She shivered as he playfully growled against her neck.

“And dinner this evening. And then...”

“And then a bath, to get rid of all this dust,” she said, laughing when she shook her hair and Raul sneezed again at the cloud of dust that rose up.