This extra chapter is my Christmas present for you, my dear readers - a special portraying Aefener's and Erik's first Christmas together. Since the main story is taking place a few months before winter, I had to skip time. While I was careful not to give away any major spoilers, there're some minor teasers included because it couldn't have been helped. It's still safe to read, though, no worries. Treat it as a teaser rather than a spoiler. How many hints about the future of Draconia can you find? Anyway, enjoy this festive chapter and I wish you Merry Christmas! :)

 

“You think you can send it like that?” Erik chuckles, spying over my shoulder and pushing away a few feathers to see better.

            “I don’t see why not,” I shrug. “I have the name, the address…”

              “The company will either think it’s a prank or get a heart attack when they see who ordered with them,” he grins. “What are you buying anyway?”

              “Christmas presents, what else. Don’t look!” I poke him and shut the laptop close.

              “You still have to change the delivery information, though,” he pokes me back. “I don’t think ‘His Imperial Majesty Aefener’ and ‘The Celestial Tower’ will do.”

              I sigh and irritably flutter my wings.

              “Opps, careful, honey,” Erik catches a stack of papers that would get shoved away. “You still have to sign these.”

              “Gosh, I want out!” I put the laptop aside and take an advantage of the fact that we’re in our bed to push my boyfriend on his back.

              “You returned from your flight just an hour ago,” Erik reminds me and I feel his emotions change to delight when I envelop him into my feathers. He loves when I’m doing that.

              “I mean out as if… you know… proper Christmas shopping,” I mutter, discontent.

              “Riiiight,” he finally understands.

              I don’t do it on purpose but all those reasons why I want our first Christmas together to be perfect leak out of me. Erik’s eyes widen because he gets too much information at once but then his face brightens and shows tenderness.

              “Don’t worry, we’ll make it memorable,” he assures me. “A big tree, all Christmas decorations you could possibly want… we can even bake some cookies.”

              “Ohh… I’ll rather pass on baking,” I shake my head but I’m otherwise overjoyed that he shares my enthusiasm. My first real Christmas… with the person I love. It almost gets tears into my eyes.

              “Ryuu,” Erik catches my turbulent emotions and leans in for a kiss. “Sorry, I didn’t realise it’s so important to you. You never had proper Christmas with your Grandma, did you?”

              “She pretty much ignored it,” I admit and I’m surprised that it still hurts after all those years.

              “Let’s make our Christmas spectacular then!” Erik promises me.

*****

              “Of course, Your Majesty, we actually wanted ask you about that in the upcoming days,” Luviael surprises me. “How would you like to celebrate it? In a Japanese way? Czech? Internationally?”

              “Czech, please,” I say.

              “So the Christmas Day on the 24^th of December then,” Luviael nods. “How many guests? We were thinking to make it rather private… definitely no more than two hundred.”

              “T-two hundred?” I get panic-stricken. “I was thinking like… two? You know… just Erik and me. Oh, and Liana. Three then.”

              But Luviael isn’t listening to me and is already drawing a guest list on her tablet. Erik is upset too but I can tell he wasn’t as naïve as me, thinking it can be only the two of us.

              The night will be ours, don’t worry, he sends me a calming thought.

*****

              “What did you expect, Aefener,” Liana is shaking her head when she hears about my humble plan. “It’s natural that we have to invite all our ministers and other significant seraphs. Most of them didn’t see their Emperor in person for months and will finally be coming home for the holidays.”

              “So there’s nothing I can do about it?” I sigh.

              “Nope, I’m afraid not,” she has to disappoint me. “By the way, do I get a present from you?”

              “Of course,” I’m surprised she would ask that. “And I’d definitely invite you even if it was only Erik and me. Ideally, I’d like to invite our old gang as well but…”

              “But,” Liana says sadly, “not likely. Everyone is either too busy or too far away. It could also cause power imbalance if we invited all rulers here.”

              “I know,” I sigh.

              “No time to get sad over it,” Erik caresses my left wing. “We have lots of planning and shopping to do.”

*****

              Luviael tells me how to order things online safely via a proxy that isn’t connected to the Celestial Tower and is untraceable. I’m glad for that because I can finally buy something. Christmas is approaching and I don’t want to risk buying presents too late.

              One would probably say that it must be easy for a telepath to know what other people want and under normal circumstances it would be true but what to buy someone who is so rich that they can have anything they want? Liana is just impossible!

              “Give her something personal then,” Erik helps me, looking for presents in his own laptop just a few inches away from me and enjoying the warmth of my wings covering him instead of a blanket.

              “Personal… I’m not good at handicraft,” I cry.

              “Why do you keep forgetting that you have magic?” he nudges me enviously. “Can’t do you something with those crystal thingies you discovered recently? They sure are pretty.”

              “Hmm… I guess I could experiment with them to create something new,” I ponder. “Okay, I’ll tell Luvi to get me ten of them and I’ll try something.”

              “Ten,” Erik chews his lip. “We completely forgot the value of money, didn’t we?”

              “They aren’t that expensive,” I oppose. “And I’ll probably destroy most of them when experimenting.”

              “You do realise one of them costs more than a car, don’t you?” he raises his eyebrows on me.

              “Damn, it does?” he takes me aback because I had no idea. I don’t manage our finances. “But if I tell Luvi that I’ll be also doing research…”

              “Do what you will,” he waves his hand. “Just don’t expect me to buy you anything remotely that expensive. I’ve already bought you lots of smaller presents. Things you mentioned during the year that you want.”

              “Huh? But I don’t need anything really. Not from you anyway,” I look at him, dumbfounded.

              “Do you mean to tell me that I’m the best Christmas presents you could ask for?” he grins at me cheekily.

              “Pretty much… yes,” I admit and don’t think it’s a big deal. But it is. For him.

              “Don’t say something like that aloud… I… I was just kidding, you know!” he turns completely red. “Dammit, Ryuu, how romantically cheesy can you be? Y-you!”

              I totally destroyed his concentration and our buying presents session transforms into cuddling.

*****

              “I want to help,” I insists when Luviael and other servants bring several boxes with Christmas decorations into our apartment.

              “Using your hands or telekinesis?” she asks.

              “Both,” I say and open the nearest box. It’s full of shiny ornaments.

              “Don’t worry, we didn’t buy any tasteless little angels,” Luviael assures me. “Can I help you, Your Majesty?”

              She’s all eager to decorate as well. I understand her sentiment—it’s our first Draconian Christmas after all.

              “Sure,” I nod and take out an extremely long glittery garland. “Let’s make it really Christmassy here.”

              I decide to use my hands where can I reach and only apply telekinesis for high places. It’s really fun this way.

              “Someone has been working hard,” Erik praises our work, returning after two hours of his absence.

              “So did you,” I look at the plate full of Christmas cookies and my mouth waters. “Sorry that I didn’t join you but… you know…”

              “Right, Celestials and kitchens don’t go well together,” he finishes for me and stuffs one cookie into my already opened mouth.

              “Iss too narrrouww ann hoot theer,” I mumble, savouring each bite.

              “I know, too many hazards for your huge wings,” he says understandingly because he was only teasing me. He knows how clumsy Celestials tend to be on the ground.

              “Delicious,” I finally gulp.

              “Well, I had help,” he admits reluctantly. There’re no lies between us. Not even little ones. “Some Clawfang cooks showed me a few tricks. Don’t eat all of it!”

              “Just one more,” I steal another one and quickly bite into it before he snatches it from me.

              “If only you ate proper food that eagerly,” he berates me but everything is forgiven before Christmas.

*****

              “Shit,” I swear because I’ve just managed to destroy another crystal.

              “Maybe you’re putting too much power into it, Your Majesty?” Taranah, the head of our magic research department, is trying to be helpful. “In some cases, applying too much mana is counterproductive.”

              “Probably, you’re the expert here,” I sign but I can’t afford to resign just yet.

              I finally decided what to give Liana and I asked Fefnir to forge me a silver bracelet. I was meaning to embed several crystals into it to create a replica of the mana capacitator from the game but so far I’ve been unsuccessful.

              “No, you’re the real expert, Your Imperial Majesty,” Taranah shakes his head violently. “There’s no one who would be more magically gifted than you. You are magic itself… you are go---”

              “Stop it right there,” I interrupt him because I don’t want to hear it. “Thanks for your advice, I think I’ll work on it in my study.”

*****

              “Damn, it’s really freezing today,” I shiver even though I’m wearing five layers of protective thermo materials my robe for flying is made of.

              “Do you have to go?” Erik is snuggling into his sweater.

              “I have to stretch my wings,” I say.

              Thankfully, my guards are starting to apply heating spells all around us. It doesn’t eliminate the cold entirely but it does help a lot. Celestials hate cold.

              “Well, I’m not waiting for you today,” Erik waves me goodbye and disappears back inside, no doubt to fetch himself a cup of hot cocoa.

              “We’re good to go, Your Majesty, all protective shields are up,” Vermiel announces. “Please, don’t go too high this time, okay?”

              “I make no promises,” I smirk, spread my wings and flap them like there’s no tomorrow.

              I’m always like that when I finally have the chance to fly. My guards and companions have to be extremely vigilant when they let me out because I’m not able to control myself when I feel the wind in my wings. They say I’m the embodiment of magic itself, at least according to the Celestial lore. But it seems to me that I’m rather the embodiment of air. There’s no greater pleasure for me than flying. Except maybe… making love with Erik, of course.

              My protectors are shouting at me to slow down but I don’t listen. I never do. They have to keep up if they want to fly with their Emperor so I take only the best fliers with me. It’s a bother not being able to fly beyond the shield but that’s the only rule I have to abide to so I try not to pay attention to it even if it’s quite limiting.

              I’m performing air acrobatics, pirouettes that would be physically impossible without the use of air magic and feel truly alive. My wings are listening to my every whim and the wind cooperates. This is my natural environments, not the Council Hall or the Royal Office. Celestials suffer when we can’t fly for too long, yet I have to endure it more often than I’d like. But I don’t care about that now, I own the sky!

              I suddenly feel something cold dropping on my wings. I flutter them violently, only to discover that snow started falling. I’d love to explore the cloud above me that’s the source of it but there’s no chance my overprotective guardians will let me.

              I play in the snowfall like crazy but when it gets too heavy, my guards insist we return. I throw several snowballs at them but nothing distracts them. The formation pushes me down and soon we land back.

              “You’re soaked, Your Majesty!” Vermiel berates me. “Why didn’t you use any repulsive spells?”

              “Because that’s no fun,” I frown.

*****

              “There’s no helping you, Ryuu,” Erik sighs resignedly and is patiently drying my soaked wings with a hairdryer.

              I’m shivering and only now I’m slowly starting to admit that it wasn’t my brightest idea. Three maids are helping with heating spells, otherwise I’d catch cold.

              “Stupid,” Erik shakes his head and ignores the fact that the maids disapprove of him using such a word with me.

              “But it’s showing, Erik, what can be more Christmassy?” I oppose.

              “My cookies, for instance,” he purses his lips. “And all those excessive decorations that are all over our apartment.”

*****

              “Eureka!!!”

              I finally succeed with the spell that is supposed to slowly absorb the wearer’s mana into the crystal so that it can be used later when the need arises. The silver bracelet that Fefnir kindly made for me arrived yesterday and it’s a great craftsmanship, I’d expect nothing less from him.

              “How does it work?” Erik asks curiously. “It took you almost three weeks.”

              “It’s a five-configuration spell, that’s why,” I explain. “Unless the configuration symbols connect perfectly into one another, it breaks the crystal.”

              “So basically it’s a huge deal?” he summarises.

              “I don’t know about that,” I shrug. “It was fun researching it, though.”

              “So it’s a huge deal,” he comments. “Everything magical you make is. Especially if it takes you that long and nobody before you managed it. Show me, try it again.”

              I take another crystal (in the end, I had to ask Luvi for five more because I broke too many), take a deep breath and start with the first part of the process. The transfiguration symbol materialises as a hologram in front of me which is eery to behold for anyone who isn’t Celestial. Then I materialise another one with a different function with utmost precision and lock it into the first one. And then another… and another… and one more.

              “It’s beautiful, Ryuu,” Erik is astonished but nothing genuinely surprises him anymore. He got used to weird stuff happening around him on a daily basis.

              I levitate the crystal and embed the complex transfiguration into it. Done, it should do the trick.

              “Uff,” I have to take a rest.

              “How difficult is it?” Erik asks.

              “Not as much for mana as for concentration,” I say. “Calorie-wise… three big chocolates I guess?”

              “No wonder you can never put on any weight!” Erik laments. “You’re flying like crazy or doing godly magic all the time.”

            “I’m doing paperwork and politics most of the time, Erik,” I correct him.

              “So Liana’s present is finished? What about mine?” he winks at me.

              “It arrived yesterday but I’m saying no more!” I refuse to give even a hint.

*****

              “So… how do I wrap something like that?” I look desperately at Erik’s gift.

              “You don’t,” Liana shrugs. “I hope you’re giving me something smaller.”

              “As small as it gets,” I assure her. “So small I worry I’ll offend you.”

              “You can’t offend me, Aefener,” Liana rolls her eyes. “Anything you give me will be considered an honour.”

              “Don’t be dramatic over trinkets,” it’s me rolling my eyes now.

              “Trinkets don’t cost our whole monthly research budget,” she clicks her tongue. “You thought I won’t notice you transferring valuable resources? I’m your Viceroy, everything goes through me.”

              “Sorry, am I in trouble or something?” I gulp.

              “Nah, of course not,” she waves her hand and looks again at Erik’s gift. “Maybe you can find a giant ribbon at least?”

*****

              “So much for the silent night,” I say while my maids are dressing me into a celebratory royal attire.

              “Luviael invited fifty people less to get into your good graces,” Erik reminds me and for once let’s the maids dress him as well.

              “Do I have to?” I plead them when one of the maids brings my tiara.

              “You do, Your Majesty, the protocol dictates it,” she says uncompromisingly and carefully puts the tiara into my hair.

              “Don’t say it!” I scold Erik in advance.

              “You look like a princess,” he says it anyway, chuckling under his breath.

              “The Royal Consort is just teasing you, Your Imperial Majesty, you look godly,” the maid flatters me but it’s not making me feel any more self-assured.

Emi was constantly making fun of my tiara and my dresses. Oh, but she isn’t coming, is she? The last time she called me, she was somewhere in South Asia. Unlike me, she’s allowed to travel. And she was also constantly making fun of how my own people are locking me up in the Celestial skyscraper like some… well… a sheltered princess.

              “You look lovely,” Erik finally gives me a compliment because he catches a fleeting feeling of sadness within me.

*****

              The hall is full of people. Or Draconians to be precise. I catch a few other races but it’s mostly Celestials so the room is quite crowded with so many wings. The only humans present are Erik, Mrs Hana and Julia. They must feel out of place but if they do, they don’t let it show on their faces.

              “You Majesty, it’s an honour to see you after so many months!”

              “I hope you’ll like my gift, Your Majesty.”

              “Can we maybe talk over a glass of wine later?”

              I’m giving everyone a bright smile and hope they won’t notice that I’m clutching my boyfriend’s hand too needily. My psychological sessions with Zetraya are progressing nicely but I’m still far from overcoming my social anxiety. And even if I eventually do, I’ll still have my telepathy that becomes overwhelming with so many people in close vicinity.

              Don’t think about it now, Erik nudges me.

              He’s right, I won’t let anything destroy our first Christmas together. I continue giving smiles and this time I try to put real sincerity into it. These are my people, I should be happy to see every single one of them.

              Liana appears fashionably late, also wearing an expensive royal attire. She chose a silver dress which creates a perfect contrast with her huge black wings. Naturally, she also gets a lot of attention but she’s much better at handling it than me.

              “Your Majesty,” she teasingly addresses me with my title when she finally gets to us.

              “Your Excellency,” I address her likewise and we both burst laughing.

              “Gosh, I’m starving,” she whines. “Is the dinner ready yet?”

              “What, you tried our Bohemian tradition of fasting before the Christmas Eve’s feast?” I raise my eyebrow.

              “Of course not and protect you all the gods if you did,” she shakes her head. “That’s unthinkable for Celestials with our quick metabolism.”

              “He didn’t,” Erik reports. “He was considering it because he wanted to have everything traditional but Julia scolded him so thoroughly that he’s still traumatised.”

              I get slightly blushing and glance Julia’s way. She’s merrily discussing something with Zetraya. How can she appear so friendly when she’s so uncompromising in reality?

              We mingle with the guests and I finally relax a bit. Everyone’s is feeling really happy so their emotions don’t exhaust me as much. And I have to admit that it’s pleasant to meet people I haven’t seen for so long or I’ve known only through a screen. I was hopeful Gotrid could arrive as well but the situation in the States doesn’t allow him to leave his post.

              But there’s one surprise Christmas visitor after all.

              “Guess who!” two palms smelling like flowers cover my eyes. My guards wouldn’t let anyone suspicious come near me so I’m not startled. Besides, her telepathic imprint gives her identity away.

              “Ingri,” my forced smile transforms into a genuine one. “When did you arrive?”

              “Just an hour ago, I was afraid I wouldn’t manage,” she says, stepping in front of me.

              I haven’t seen her for five weeks because Liana sent her as our ambassador to Twyla and Werden. I didn’t hope she would come back for the holidays but it seems my Viceroy was planning to surprise me.

              “You look… different,” I study her newest Earthborn augmentations. I can still tell it’s her but judging by Erik’s reaction, he had no idea who she was. No wonder, her skin is dark blue now and her hair doesn’t even resemble hair anymore because it’s all rooty tentacles.

              “Thanks, Twyla was teaching me,” she says proudly. “And Werden claims I’m a natural at full body transformations.”

              I’m so glad you always look the same, Erik sends me a relieved thought.

              He still hasn’t come to terms with the Earthborn changing their form on a whim. Well, he has nothing against it, of course, but it confuses him. I know it’s not easy for him to tell some Draconians apart and it unnerves him when he can’t remember who is who, especially when it comes the Dragonkin and Clawfangs. The Earhborn are quite distinctive, unless they keep changing their forms.

              “Ehm… sorry, Ingri, but I… kind of sent your present to Werden’s and Twyla’s mansion,” I admit.

              “No, you didn’t. I told your servants beforehand that Ingri is coming and they just pretended to send that post,” Liana reveals. “It’s under the Christmas tree with the rest of our presents.”

              I look at my Viceroy, endlessly grateful for her thoughtfulness. I’m a bit sad that Emi and Fefnir couldn’t come but Emi is dealing with the uprising of her people and Fefnir is with Deminas in Russia. It’s a small miracle that at least Ingri arrived and that’s only because she swore her allegiance to Liana and me so the Earthborn King and Queen had to let her go.

              “The dinner is ready, Your Majesty, Your Excellency,” Luviael announces.

              “Finally!” Liana celebrates, her stomach rumbling loudly at this point. “I skipped my snack for this!”

              The seating order was decided beforehand so there’s nothing I can do about it. I tried to insist that Mrs Hana and Julia sit close to us but Luviael positioned our ministers right in front of us. I don’t like the fact that my chair is bigger and more expensive than Erik’s but it was made specially for the Celestial Emperor while Erik’s chair is a regular one, though still good quality and expensive.

              To rebel the etiquette at least somehow, I push my chair as close to Erik as possible and hug my partner with my left wing. Erik’s smile transforms into a smirk and he proudly gazes at all my ministers, especially those who don’t quite approve of our interspecies relationship. But it’s Christmas so they, for once, don’t look at us too sternly and are soon too occupied with all that delicious food servants start bringing us.

              “I envy your fried fish,” I whisper to Erik.

              “Do you still crave it?” he laughs and puts his fork with a piece of fish under my nose.

              “Until I smell it,” I jerk away and gladly return to my deep-fried cauliflower.

              “Don’t fool around, Aefener, everyone is watching,” Liana kicks me under the table, sitting next to my right hand. Because she is my right hand. Ingri was seated next to her but otherwise it’s only Celestials around our table.

              “It’s Christmas, Li, don’t be so stiff,” Erik laughs again and steals one cauliflower from me to taste it which is totally against formal Celestial dining manners.

              “I’ll overlook it just this once, Royal Consort,” Luviael comments, fortunately too busy with her own plate.

              I eat quickly, too excited for the presents like some small child. It doesn’t help me at all, though, as I have to wait for everyone to finish their dinner. What torture! I can’t wait what Erik chose for me. And will he like mine?

              “Let’s get to it then,” Liana stands up first and proposes a celebratory toast. Celestials normally don’t drink alcohol at all because a drunk caster is a bad caster but one cup once in a while is okay. “For the future of Draconians!”

              “For love that doesn’t distinguish,” I add and, despite my social anxiety, kiss Erik in front of everyone. I have to be ostentatious with my ministers sometimes to show them they can’t mess with my relationship.

              Theatrics aren’t your forte, Ryuu, Erik tells me when our lips connect, both amused and a bit embarrassed.

              That may be but it’s Christmas.

              After that we finally get to unwrap the presents. There’s a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the ball room with countless boxes underneath. Shit, I haven’t thought about that—how do I find Erik’s presents in this avalanche?

              “Your personal presents are under a smaller tree in the private room, Your Majesty,” Luviael tells me because she notices my distress. “These are the presents from the ministers and other seraphs to you and Her Excellency.”

              “You serious?” my eyes widen.

              “Ryuu, there’s no way we’ll fit all that stuff into our apartment,” Erik pulls my sleeve, also startled.

              “I told them I don’t need anything!” I cry. The ministers were bugging me about what I’d like for Christmas for a month and I kept telling them that there’s no need to get me anything but it seems their ears were deaf.

              “It’s their way to thank you for everything you’re doing for our race,” Luviael says and hands me the first present. “Come one, unwrap it. Minister Heindal is watching and looks nervous so I bet it’s from him.”

              I sit on my knees in front of the tree, hoping it’s not against the protocol or something. There’s a fluffy carpet around and Luviael doesn’t say anything so I guess it’s acceptable for the Emperor to sit like this on the Christmas Eve.

              “Make some room, hon,” Erik pushes one of my wings away and sits next to me. “Oh, there’re even some gifts for me, sweet!”

              I slowly unwrap the first present and realise that I’ve actually never received a proper gift before. Grandma never bothered to give me one and I never was that close to anyone before so that it would call for a present exchange. That wrapping paper is so pretty, can I really just tear it?

              “Sure you tear it!” Erik nudges me. “Come on, go for it!”

              I tear the paper like I saw in old Christmas movies from the twentieth century and there’s something deeply satisfying about that. I expect to find a practical thing like a new robe so I’m twice as surprised when I’m looking at the box with the collector’s edition of the game I was desperately trying to buy for years.

              “B-but how…?” I stare at Minister Heindal, perfectly confused.

              “The Royal Consort helped,” Heindal smiles. “He kindly provided the court with your Christmas wishlist. To be honest, he was a life-saver. Everyone was thinking about robes and jewellery which, I presume, wouldn’t make our Emperor that happy.”

              “T-thank you, I love it!” I hug the box gratefully, not yet quite believing I finally got my hands on it.

              “The only thing we couldn’t give you were the tickets for Comic-Con,” Erik says. “For obvious reasons.”

              “Oh, right, I put that on the list, too,” I recall now. “Wishful thinking.”

              We keep unwrapping the presents and I find more collector’s figures, antique games and other merchandise. Even Erik gets his share of presents from the ministers but more practical ones like new suits and a brand watch. I eye Liana unwrapping hers and have to laugh because while most of her presents are robes and jewellery, she also got some merch. They know us too well.

              I’m so overjoyed that I hug all my subjects one by one. They turn red and bloat with pride that they got that honour. They realise that their Emperor never touches anyone carelessly, even though just a lucky few know the real reason behind that.

              After that we’re finally released for a more private Christmas Eve and Luviael leads us into one of the smaller rooms nearby.

              “This one is from me, Li,” I hand her the present myself. “See, it’s the smallest one here, I wasn’t kidding.”

              Liana unwraps it eagerly, much more eagerly than the other presents.

              “Oh, it’s…,” she blinks, staring at the bracelet.

              “A trinket, just as I said,” I say, afraid now that it isn’t much and Liana will be disappointed.

              “It’s a mana capacitator!!!” she exclaims when she recognises it and find is hard to believe. “So that’s what you’ve been experimenting on? And you succeeded?”

              “At the cost of seven broken crystals,” I admit reluctantly. “Sorry, I realise I overdrew the budget but…”

              “Aefener, you silly, don’t apologise!” she hugs me tight. “How can you not realise how precious this thing it? It’ll change our combat system when we put it into production! Our researchers haven’t been able to crack the configuration needed for that for three months and you do it during your free time as a petty side project?”

              “Sooo… you like it?” I finally take a breath when she pulls away.

              “I LOVE IT!” she’s all smiles and immediately puts it on her wrist. “Gosh, Aefener, everyone will go crazy when they see it on me. I just hope it’s not another magic only you’re able to do. Or else prepare to become a full-time magic jeweller.”

              “Nope, it just requires utmost precision,” I say, relieved myself.

              “Oh, Aefener, when did you get that?” Ingri is shocked when she opens my present for her. “I hope… it wasn’t illegal to get it here?”

              “Nope, I asked some countries for a favour… in name of research,” I say, happy that she likes hers as well.

She was always fantasising about analysing some exotic and almost extinct flowers that normally can’t be shipped out of their homeland. But if she and other Earthborn succeed in their mission to revitalise the nature, they might be able to restore these rare plants so local governments were actually quite cooperative and gave me a special permit.

“What did you give to Emi and Fefnir?” she asks, touching the plants gently with her rooty tentacles.

“Emi will receive today a very special… ehm… cat,” I say slowly. “Wait for her to send you some pictures.”

“You didn’t!” Ingri opens her mouth. “You got her a cheetah? She’s always wanted one.”

“A cub saved from poachers,” I nod. “It had its leg injured so it couldn’t have been released back to the wild but I’m sure Emi will nurse it to full health with some help from the Earthborn healers.”

“And Fefnir?”

“Well, he wanted special materials to work on so…,” I look at Liana apprehensively, afraid of her reaction because I kind of stole some from our resource bank.

“I know, you send him the chitin from those arthropods,” she sighs but luckily for me, I don’t catch any anger from her. “Actually, I send some more as a present from me. Under the condition that he will share his creations with us, of course.”

“Now I’m quite uncomfortable,” Erik speaks up, saddened for some reason. “My presents seem plain when compared to what you gave to the others.”

“That can’t be true!” I oppose and use telekinesis to get all the presents with my name tag.

I sit down and slowly unwrap everything, finding more collector’s items, books I wanted to read that came out recently and even an antique gaming system that is considered to be impossible to buy these days—a museum piece almost.

Sure, it might seem a bit plain compared to new magical inventions, alien chitin and exotic plants and animals but he was listening to what I long for almost the whole year and was taking notes. He even gave my wishlist to the ministers to make sure I won’t get things that won’t make me happy. And he was decorating our apartment, baking cookies and participating in all Christmas preparations.

“You’re the best present I could wish for,” I clutch his hand. “Thanks to you, I enjoyed the Christmas season to the fullest despite politics, despite the constant threat of civil war, despite the monsters attacking our cities, despite my father, despite… everything bad that’s been happening.”

He takes my hand and tenderly kisses it. “So… where’s my main present? Don’t tell me all I get from you is an endless supply of new suits when everyone else gets magical artefacts and exotic animals from you. I know you’ve been cooking something behind my back.”

“It’s on the roof, actually, so put on your coat,” I grin mysteriously.

*****

“YOU ARE KIDDING!” Erik is left speechless when he sees the present I got for him.

“Is the ribbon doing it’s trick?” I laugh. “I had to use telekinesis to wrap it, you know.”

“YOU GOT ME A FUCKING HELICOPTER!” he looks at me, his mouth still wide open.

“I know that you don’t like spending money excessively,” I say quickly. “But you deserve to have your own. Besides, if it makes you any calmer, it wasn’t more expensive than that bracelet I created for Liana.”

It’s not only about the machine, never was. What I had in mind when buying it for Erik was also more freedom. He’s been locked in the Celestial Tower with me for several months now, not even able to go on regular flying session with me. He borrowed Liana’s helicopter a few times but I knew that he longs for his own machine.

“Whenever you want to clear your hand, go for a flight,” I say. “Just take some of my guards with you, okay? I’d die of worry otherwise.”

“Oh, Ryuu, that’s the best present ever!” he hugs me and showers me with kisses. “Even though… I have another secret gift still waiting for our night.”

He becomes excited and channels some of that to me. I get goosebumps under my feathers and it’s not because of the chilly weather.

“You can be excused if you want,” Liana says benevolently. “Me and Ingri will return to the ball room to mingle a bit more but you two lovebirds enjoy the rest of the evening privately.”

“Thanks, Li,” Erik looks at her gratefully.

*****

“Oooh, when did that happen?” I freeze in the door.

The bedroom is full of lit candles, sweet fragrance is in the air, there’re rose petals on the bed and one smaller present is still waiting for me.

“I asked Luviael to prepare it as a surprise,” Erik explains. “Didn’t you say that I’m the best present you could wish for? Well, I’m all yours for the night then. Whatever you want me to do with your wings I will do, my Emperor.”

“And this?” I hold the last present. It’s soft.

“Some fan service for me,” he chuckles.

I unwrap and find… a Celestial version of erotic underwear.

“Y-you!” I turn completely red.

“Come on, put it on, love,” he encourages me and because I’m not willing to cooperate, he pushes me on the bed and starts to undress me himself.

“Isn’t it for ladies?” I oppose when he tries to put a black lacy nightgown on me.

“Definitely not, do you see any bra?” he just laughs my concern off and struggles with me to get the dress around my wings.

I don’t know what arouses him more—the gown or me struggling with him and him winning in the end. Out there I’m the Celestial Emperor but behind this closed door, I’m simply his partner. And he is mine. The best Christmas present ever.