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For the twenty-second Christmas in a row, Faryn received a bag of reindeer shit.

She shouldn't have bothered opening the green velvet bag labeled To: Faryn From: Santa Claus in horrible handwriting. Nick's handwriting. She had known what it was. The bag was still warm and that was not even mentioning the smell. But it had become tradition at this point, and she already had so few.

Curled up on the window seat in the lounge, Faryn held the bag between her fingers as the other students she lived with who didn't go home for the holidays opened their gifts from her mother's husband. Beyond the frost laced window, the garden was nothing more than patches of dirt separating the yellow stone wall that blocked out Oxford's streets. She caught another whiff of the bag and grimaced. She needed to dispose of the gift soon before her housemates complained.

Slipping off the seat, she made sure the bag's strings were pulled tight and crossed the room, stepping carefully around new toys, books, and matte wrapping paper. Her housemates were a mix of primary and secondary school students as well as a few who were in university like Faryn. Their boarding school had an arrangement with the Acurial faculty members of Oxford. The university-aged boarders were allowed to attend their classes, and if they passed them, they'd earn a degree.

One of the few Fae students, Rhea, wrinkled her nose as Faryn stepped by. The Fae would have been at the school as long as Faryn if Faryn hadn't been here since she was a baby.

"Did they at least have the guts to claim it this year?" she asked, they meaning Nick's sleigh team. Comprised of eight reindeer Thorine, they acted more like they were in a frat than in the most coveted positions their kind could dream of holding. Whenever Nick felt like dropping by and paying her a visit, he'd bring his sleigh team. It was impossible to decide if they were more irritating as reindeers when they honked at her or when they were in their Celvian form—what non-Acurials would mistake as human.

Silla, who held the title of Dasher, and Dimitri, who got Cupid, were probably the worst of the eight. She'd bet this shit belonged to one of them and that they made really terrible jokes as they shoveled it in, if they didn't crap straight into the bag.

"The year they finally claim it will be the year I just get coal."

Faryn took the stairs up to her room. The smell was starting to get nauseating. Her mom would be arriving for her annual visit in only a few hours, and this gift had to be gone.

Christmas, the one day Clora Claus could visit her daughter because Nick was busy delivering gifts with his Elves and reindeer.

Faryn dumped the contents of the bag into her toilet and rinsed out the bag with a bottle of soap and water before dropping it in the trash can. As she washed her hands, she looked up at the mirror and groaned. At some point between her last trip to the bathroom and now, white had threaded its way through her long black curls.

She reached for a box of hair dye she kept under her sink. This was always a hassle, but her mom could not be allowed to see it. One look and Clora would know her daughter had inherited the Morozko white hair. Unlike her mom's family, Faryn didn't have a full head of white. Only strands. Most likely a reflection of her lack of magic. The Morozkos created wind, snow, ice, sleet, and frost, and she got strands of white hair that relentlessly reappeared no matter how much hair dye she doused them in. But she was fine not having any real powers. She didn't want to share any traits with the Morozkos, especially seeing as how Jack Morozko, her uncle, and Jack Frost, her cousin had disowned her without ever meeting her. They even went before the Winter Court to make it official.

As far as Clora Claus knew, her daughter was magicless, and her natural hair color was black and only black.

After her hair had been dyed, rinsed, and dried, she could finally finish getting ready. Her mother could arrive at any moment. There was never a set time.

On her light blue bedspread sat the perfectly wrapped copy of The Woman's Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton she found in Blackwell's old book section. Faryn's knowledge of Elves didn't go far enough to know whether giftwrapping could be an inherited trait, but whenever she wrapped, the packages looked as if they had been touched by magic or at least by someone who did it professionally.

While the book wasn't a first edition, it wasn't right to consider the title itself an antique, not when her mother was seventy years older than the first edition. At 202, Faryn's mom looked barely a day older than her daughter. Both Alkine and Elves had average lifespans of a thousand years. Being half of each she supposed she'd live that long if no one killed her first. i.e. Nick.

There was a knock on her bedroom door, and Faryn's nostrils flared as she scented chai and burnt sugar. She quickly opened the door to reveal her mother, known to the world as Mrs. Claus. Humans thought of her as an elderly woman in a gown, cap, and apron who probably baked cookies for Ol' Saint Nick every night. The Acurials knew her as the opposite. Young and tall, she was slender, with long white hair that was often styled into a low bun as it was now with tendrils of curls framing her face. In every picture she'd seen of her mother, Clora always dressed as if she were the focal point in a magazine shoot. Acurials saw her as the opposite of matronly, instead thinking of her as a harlot who stabbed Nick Claus in the back when she had an affair with one of his Elves. But if an Acurial were asked what they thought of her, they'd try to convince themselves that Clora and Nick were the epitome of a happy couple. The idea that they weren't was too uncomfortable an image for them to accept. Some might have said they just needed marriage counseling. Really, they needed to get a divorce and be done with each other.

To Faryn, this was her mom, the woman who had spent too few happy years in a long marriage of an even longer existence, married to a man few actually knew. Nick was the least jolly person Faryn had ever met. One only needed to take a look at her past twenty-two Christmas presents from him to see it.

He was angry. And he was bitter. And Faryn's wish every year was that the rest of the world realized how awful he was. She put it in the letter she mailed to him every December, no matter that she was twenty-two, for no one was ever too old to tell a dick he was being a dick.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Faryn hugged her mother for the first time in a year, committing to memory the way they fit together and her scent. Clora held her close, her cheek pressing against Faryn's hair. In a different world, they'd have spent all of Faryn's life together. She'd have learned how to ride a bike from her and not the boarding-school teachers. They'd bake cakes on their birthdays—hell, they'd get to spend their birthdays together. If that was her life, Faryn would have loved the white in her hair.

Placing her hands on Faryn's shoulders, Clora pulled away and studied her daughter. Clora's eyes were gray—another Morozko trait. Faryn's were an ice blue. Countless hours were spent studying herself in the mirror, guessing at what she'd inherited from her father. Her pointed ears were the only thing she knew for sure were his. Clora never had provided much information in the way of Faryn's father. He was alive, but where he lived—where he went after Nick kicked him out of Ruhnerium, that was all a mystery. Her mom must know but had to be scared of what would happen to him should anyone discover him.

"I swear you've gotten taller," Clora said at last.

"I don't think I've grown since I was fifteen."

Mrs. Claus tapped her daughter on the nose. "Well, you look older."

It had been a year but pointing that out would ruin their reunion, so before she could end up saying something wrong, she retrieved the present from her bed and held it out to her mom.

Clora took it into her hands, her brows pinched. "Faryn, you really shouldn't have." Her mom was convinced Faryn was poor, that since she couldn't send her daughter an allowance, it meant Faryn had no way of making money. But Faryn had been working since she was thirteen, and during the holiday season, she picked up some shifts giftwrapping around the town. So, in a way she was a professional gift wrapper.

"I get once a year to give you a gift to remind you of me for the rest of the year. Open it."

Clora frowned but began tearing open the packaging in a very inelegant way. Was her mom ever sick of wrapping paper? Nick hardly ever seemed to let his elves use gift bags and tissue paper. "I could never forget you."

When the wrapping paper was pulled away enough to reveal the title, Clora stared down at the book and dragged a long finger down the cover. "I used to have a first edition." Her mother looked up at her. "Thank you, my darling."

Moving toward the bed, Clora set her white purse down on the comforter. She withdrew a rectangular box, wrapped in sparkly gray paper. Was it a reference to the winter powers Faryn didn't exhibit? Did her mom want her to have powers? Wouldn't they only draw unnecessary attention to her?

But most importantly, was her mom disappointed she wasn't more like her?

She opened the package on the ends, careful not to tear the paper. Since seven, she'd been saving the paper in which her mother wrapped her presents as another way to remind herself of Clora throughout the year.

Underneath the paper was a silver box, and when Faryn lifted the lid, it revealed an elaborate dagger, bejeweled with sapphires. The handle's design mimicked a whirlwind of snow and wind, and etches of frost crept up the blade. Faryn took the dagger, turning it over in her hand. This wasn't the first time she had held one. She knew how to wield them, but she didn't think parents were supposed to gift their children lethal weapons as Christmas presents.

Clora looked nervous, taking the box from Faryn and pulling out a brown sheath that was tucked inside.

"Mom?"

"Keep it with you. Always."

"I can't just walk around with a dagger strapped to me."

"It's magicked. Humans won't notice it." For a brief moment, it was like she could see her mother's 202 years weighing on her as she sunk onto Faryn's bed. "You know you have many enemies."

"That I've never met."

"Faryn . . ."

"I know." The bastard daughter of Mrs. Claus couldn't expect to have too many friends.

"Your grandfather gave it to me."

Faryn had never met the current Father Winter. He lived in Franavik, the only city in Greenland that was for Acurials. Acurial cities weren't visible to humans, weren't accessible. She'd never been to one. Since Nick brought her to Oxford when she was a baby, she'd not set foot outside of England. Across the channel in Ireland, were three Acurial cities, one of which was the capital for the Midas Court. As much as she longed to see them, she wouldn't have been safe surrounded by so many Acurials. In a city like Oxford, where the population was mainly comprised of humans, Faryn could roam the city without having to look over her shoulder. She only had two terms left before she was finished with school and then she could get a job in the corporate world of humans and start a new life where it didn't matter she was part Elf. No Fae would attack her in an office building.

"Please keep it with you. Promise me."

Faryn settled down beside Clora and set it down in her lap. "I will. Does he know you're giving this away?"

With a gentle shrug, Clora stood. "He gave it to me years ago. I doubt he even remembers it." In the past, she had insisted that Father Winter held no harsh feelings toward Faryn. It wasn't too hard to conclude he wasn't his son-in-law's biggest fan.

Clora wouldn't let the two of them go downstairs until the dagger was in its sheath, resting against Faryn's hip. After that was done and Faryn was bundled up, Clora threaded her arm through her daughter's and together they headed down the old wooden stairs.

"So what do you have planned?" Clora asked.

Faryn opened her mouth, ready to tell her mother the same place as always, when there was a clatter from outside followed by a gruff shout. At the bottom of the stairs, someone threw open the front door, and a second later, Nick stormed in.

"Where is she?" he seethed.

The headmistress froze where she stood in the hall, Rhea and a Kelpie boy, his silver necklace hanging from his throat, hovering behind her. "Mr. Claus, please control yourself."

Nick turned his head to the stairs where Faryn and her mother stood frozen. It was a shame that Nick got to be handsome. Looks were wasted on a man like him; though, then again it was the only thing he had going for him. Like her mother, he hardly looked older than Faryn even at the age of 235. His hair was a light brown that he clearly took too much time to style. He had a beard—as Humans believed, except it wasn't thick, and he kept it well kempt and trimmed. His peacoat was a dark tan, not red.

His eyes narrowed. "Clora."

Faryn's mother pushed her up on the stair behind her and jutted her chin up so she could look down her nose at him. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"I should be, but I was told you had left Ruhnerium."

"I'm allowed to see my daughter." Clora started down the stairs, Faryn at her heels. "One day a year, Nick. One day. Is that too much for you to handle?"

"You already have a child. Your focus should be on him."

"He works today. Just like you."

Faryn's half-brother was also a dick. Though Faryn had no first-hand experience with him. She had just heard things.

"You're going home, Clora. Now."

That was enough. She shouldn't have flushed the reindeer crap down the toilet. If she still had it, she could smear it on his face, make his beard fluffier. She stepped out from behind her mother and descended the stairs and walked right up to Nick. The Kelpie boy now had his phone out. Other students started to gather.

"It's time for you to leave, Nick." Though he wasn't much taller than her, she still had to look up to meet his eyes. It didn't matter he had magic and she did not. His powers were not like her mothers. He couldn't wield them to hurt others.

"Faryn, step out of the way." To other Alkine his tone probably would have sounded threatening. But to Elves and Fae who could actually growl, Alkine could rarely scare them with words alone. "Leave, Clora."

Faryn shoved her finger into his chest. "You don't get to talk to her like that."

Nick grabbed her finger and flung her hand away. "This is a family matter, Faryn, and you aren't a part of it."

"But this is about me. So continue to use me as your scapegoat and leave her alone. Yelling at her, keeping her away from me isn't going to make me go away."

"Faryn." Clora placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. I get one day with you. One. That's it. He shouldn't keep dictating our lives."

"Darling." Clora turned her around and placed her hand on her cheek. "It will be alright."

"You're not leaving. We haven't even—"

"Shh . . ."

"You have two minutes," Nick said and stormed out the door.

She refused to let him win. With a mumbled apology to her mother, she stalked after Nick. Clora called out to her, but Faryn didn't check to see if she followed.

Nick was halfway across the school's courtyard, headed for the wrought iron door that led to a small wood that ran alongside the grounds. His sleigh was parked in the middle of courtyard, his team already shifted into their Celvian forms. They whistled and laughed as she walked past. She'd flick them off if it wouldn't have made them laugh harder.

"Nick," she shouted.

He didn't stop.

"Claus!"

He flipped her off.

A growl built in her throat. If he didn't turn around and talk to her, she was going to start growling and any reminders of her dad for Nick were not going to help this confrontation.

Her feet crunched the dead grass, and wind blew against her, feeling only cool on her skin. She was aware that the weather was supposedly freezing today, but while she occasionally got cold, she never froze. A small inheritance of the great power that ran in her bloodline.

Ahead, Nick broke through the tree line.

"You're a disgrace to your title."

In the safety of the trees, Nick rounded on her. "What do you want, Faryn?"

"I want a relationship with my mother. I want you to fall off your sleigh."

He rolled his eyes. "Petty doesn't look good on you."

"But it does you?"

"You should be grateful I sent you here. I gave you a chance to have friends. Because outside this town, you're alone. Sure, you might find some Elves who would be willing to help, but Fae? Good luck."

"Are you threatening to kick me out of Oxford? Because even you don't have the power to do that."

"I could have you chased out. I'm sure your cousin and uncle would help."

Her hands shook. "And your frat brothers?"

"Frat brothers?"

"You know, Dasher, Prancer, Comet, Vixen—"

"I get it." His eyes dropped down to her waist where the dagger rested. "You're almost done with university. Don't mess it up before then. Because another one of these outbursts and I'll make sure you never step foot in Oxford again."

Swallowing her growl, Faryn took a step back. She needed to get her emotions under control or risk losing the plans she had been making for her future. She didn't need Nick sending the full force of Winter Court down on her. True, he wouldn't have the support of Gryla, Leppaludi, their sons, or Aurelius, but Befana, Perchta, Moroz, and his daughter the Snow Maiden would help Nick without hesitation and they were more than any one Acurial could handle.

Never before that moment had she wanted Nick to drop dead.

She clenched her hands. "Merry Christmas, Nick." 

I can't believe I am finally getting to share this story. I've been imagining this world since 2016. I've had so much fun researching folklore from all over the world. I'm always finding new stories and characters, but if you know of one that doesn't get mentioned in the book, please let me know, so I can see about including them in any future books set in Faryn's world. I'm also still doing research, so if you know of any great resources for any of the folklore that I mention, I would love to hear about it!

As part of Claus's release, I'll be posting tomorrow and Sunday (July 9 and 10, 2022). After that, updates will be on Wednesdays and Fridays. 

Thank you so much for reading the first chapter, and I hope you'll come with me on Faryn's journey.