“Everyone ready? Now smile,” Malcolm Ryder shouted, waving to get the teenagers’ attention.
A second later, his flash went off several times. Raul found himself blinking in the aftermath, seeing nothing but darkness and bright dots for a moment.
As soon as he’d focused on their accountant-turned-paparazzi once more, the flash went off again.
Biting back a grimace, Raul forced himself to smile, demonstratively wrapping his arm around Claire.
“Okay, that should do for a start,” the accountant said, grinning too widely in the way that set Raul’s nerves on edge.
Maybe this is a dream come true for him. Maybe, secretly, he’s always longed to be a paparazzi trailing famous starlets instead of being an accountant...
The idea didn’t particularly endear Malcolm to Raul, but at least he seemed manic around everyone gathered at the maze today, and not just around his mate.
“Ugh,” Dylan said. “Isn’t it time to start? We’re already five minutes late.”
“First the children,” Claire reminded him. “Teenagers half an hour later—unless the kids finish more quickly, which I think they just might. Everyone’s so excited for this already.”
“Yeah, well,” Dylan muttered, shifting uncomfortably. “I’ll go and wait with my friends until it starts.”
“You know you could just join me and Dylan if you want,” Claire teased. “I bet you’d have a better chance with us around.”
“No, I’m good,” Dylan said hastily, then shuffled out of Claire’s reach as quickly as possible, joining a group of teenagers over to their left.
Raul smirked a little when he saw Dylan make his way right to the side of the girl with the hip-length braids he remembered from the snowball fight a few days ago.
“I think Dylan has a crush,” he mouthed to Claire.
She grinned in return. “Isn’t it cute? She seems quite sensible, actually—we talked a bit. She’s got a list of favorite colleges and was asking me about what it’s like as a woman in my line of work. I’m hoping it will do Dylan good to see that there are kids his age with plans. At least he might start taking his homework more seriously.”
There was a sudden murmur of excitement that grew in intensity as groups of children gathered at the entrance. Malcolm was already in position once more, his flash going off rapidly, so that Raul nearly missed the start signal. But then the children started cheering, and a moment later, everyone was rushing into the maze.
“They’ll send up fireworks from the heart of the maze when the winner is found,” Raul reassured a parent who’d begun fidgeting. “Don’t worry, with the speed these little rascals are going, I give them half an hour at most. And we’ve got watchers posted all over the maze. Anyone who gets hit more than three times is out.”
The man grimaced, nodding towards where a seven-year-old with her black hair in pigtails seemed to be lecturing a group of other children.
“Janice is so competitive,” he sighed. “I don’t know where she gets it from. Not from me, that’s for certain. She’s only seven. I should be the one lecturing her about homework. Instead, it’s the other way around, can you believe that?”
Raul gave the man an encouraging smile. “Maybe she’ll make some friends in there today. You never know, she might end up having so much fun she’ll forget all about winning.”
Raul looked over to where Dylan was now excitedly gesturing at his crush. A moment later, they were both leaning over his phone, giggling loudly as they watched something.
“Not Janice,” the man said glumly. “And I volunteered to take part in the snowball fight for the adults. You bet she’ll have some words on my performance if I’m the first one out. And I usually am.”
“You know it’s really just an excuse for us all to have fun together, right?” Claire said, and then she gave him a wink. “That’s why the kids go first, so they’ll be tired this evening. And we adults get to have a party afterward. Free eggnog for every adult participant! And a masked ball on the balcony—masks provided. Bring your wife. Our local paparazzi over there will take more pictures you can share on Facebook to make all your relatives jealous of your fabulous adventures in our castle.”
“Boyfriend, actually,” the man offered with a tentative smile. “I’m never sure if it’s the right thing to try and keep dating... Feels like all my attention should be for Janice while she’s having such a difficult time in school. Not that you’d know it from her grades—but I’m worried she’ll miss out on friendship, with the way she focuses on her schoolwork.”
Raul looked towards where Dylan was now handing one of his earbuds over to his new friend, his cheeks flushed as she smiled at him.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said slowly. “These things have a way of sorting themselves out. And you can’t make friends for her—all you can do is love her, and support her. Some kids just take a little longer to come out of their shell. But I’m very certain that she wants you to be happy too.”
“I’m in my thirties,” Claire added, “and my dad just married again. It takes some time to get used to it—even when you’re an adult. You’re always scared that someone will steal your parent’s love. But then a few weeks pass, and you get to know the new person in your dad’s life, and it turns out they’re smart, or funny, or maybe an even bigger fan of Survivor than you are. And then you realize that your dad’s happier than you’ve seen him in ages. Turns out you can’t really lose a parent’s love. It just grows bigger. There’s always enough for everyone. I promise.”
“Thanks,” the man said after a moment, his eyes wide as he looked at Claire with new respect. “I guess I needed to hear that. Jeremy always tells me that I worry too much—but that’s what we dads do, isn’t it? You two got any of your own?”
“Oh, it isn’t—” Claire began, visibly flustered as she blushed and gave Raul an uncertain look.
“Not yet,” Raul said and smirked at her. “But if I’ve got any say in it, there’ll be at least three eventually.”
“Three is a lot of work,” the man said and chuckled. “I’m Micah, by the way. It was great to chat. And they’re worth it, you know. It’s always worth it.”
They’d been talking for long enough that the teenagers were already gathered by the starting line, impatiently waiting for the signal to be fired. Malcolm had vanished into the maze, taking pictures of the snowball fight in progress.
They’d just made their way over to the stall selling hot chocolate when finally, a bright red signal went up from the heart of the maze.
The teenagers half-heartedly cheered while the parents whooped in excitement. Clutching two mugs of cinnamon-flavored hot chocolate, they waited as the teenagers lined up by the maze’s entrance.
A minute later, Malcolm came running out of the maze, visibly panting as he shouted for them to wait for him.
As soon as he was in position with his huge camera hiding his face, the flag was waved and the teenagers shot into the maze to the sound of excited shouts.
“That’ll probably take less time than the kids,” Claire said. “Those teens are super excited about this. If it goes well, we could always repeat it—make it a weekly tournament, maybe.”
Raul watched her brown hair gleam in the bright sunlight. Her cheeks were flushed, and now, with their own starting time coming closer, she was nearly bouncing on her feet.
“It’s good to have a break from that paperwork, hmm?” he said. “But I hope you’ll remember that we’ll have to find a way to lose. Can’t have them accuse us of nepotism.”
“Dylan will probably tease me about losing. But that’s all the more reason to have a repeat next weekend,” she said.
“Maybe we need to introduce prizes for the losers. I think that would go over well.”
“Invitations to the masked ball?” she mused. “Only participants get to take part? If we make it a closed event, I bet people will be way more excited to take part in the snowball fight. The mysterious masked ball at the end of the season. Everyone who took part in one of the fights gets to bring a guest.”
“Which I'm sure will be pretty much all of the guests by the end.” Raul laughed. “A devious plan.”
Claire beamed. “We’ll see how Henrik and Dara like it when they get back—but we’ve still got a few weeks to pull it off.”
Raul could tell that Claire was already mentally taking notes, making lists and mulling over which sponsors could be won over.
Having a plan always made Claire’s eyes shine. It was like inside her mind, entire events were taking shape and playing out in a myriad different ways, while she made little changes and corrections until she found a perfect solution to even the smallest problem.
Raul loved watching her like this. She was obviously great at her job—Henrik and Dara wouldn’t have hired her otherwise. But it was more than just a job. She loved planning, and seeing events come to life.
Where Raul had settled on a career in investment banking due to his dragon’s natural affinity for treasure, he’d never found real joy in his work. Perhaps it was because it was such a cut-throat environment. Or perhaps it was because he’d always been focused on the fact that he needed to make up for his family’s shame—and that no matter how much money he made, it would never satisfy his inner dragon. Shareholder meetings and offshore accounts were no real replacement for the bond a dragon formed with his hoard.
He’d give up all of his top Dow Jones rated stocks in a heartbeat if it would return just one single lost family treasure to him.
With a faint, distant boom, another signal went off at the heart of the maze, this one blue.
“The teens are done!” Clare nudged him, eyes alight with excitement. “Come on! Our turn now!”
“Remember the plan,” Raul said, chuckling, even though the same excitement had begun to take hold of him.
Dragons loved a challenge—especially if there was a promised treasure at the end.
The necklace for the winner would be a fairly won treasure, according to dragon rules. Perhaps it could even be the start of a new hoard—jewelry that had a meaning to him. A little diamond-studded snowflake that he could gift to his mate, and which would forever remind him of this day...
But we can’t win, he reminded himself. It would be unfair. We live here, after all. At least for now. There’ll be other chances for my dragon to win some treasure. And then, I’ve already found the most important treasure of all...
Claire beamed at him, taking his empty mug to return it to the stall.
When she returned, the other parents had gathered at the starting line. The man who’d give the start signal waited until Claire and Raul had lined up as well, then started into his by now well-rehearsed little speech.
“All right, folks, you know how it goes, but here’s one more reminder. After the race starts, you have one minute to make your way into the maze, gather snowballs, find cover or do whatever else you feel like. After one minute, the snowball fight starts. Then every team is on its own. Everyone’s got three lives. After you’ve been hit by a snowball for the third time, you’re out. Now I know that sometimes, in the excitement of the fight, it’s difficult to realize you were hit. So we’ve got watchers all over the maze, dressed in our Snow Castle parkas. Don’t hit those guys, they’re our referees. They’ll note down every hit they see, so no cheating.” He wagged his finger at them.
“Ready? And... go!”
His helper frantically waved his flag to signal that the battle had started.