“You didn’t tell me about that.” Bryce reminded her that she knew the rules as well as she did. “That’s not one I remembered. I don’t want that in this sham of a trial.”
“You don’t get to pick and choose the rules that you can be tried for, Sara Dawn Smith.” Sara growled at her, hoping to piss her off enough that she’d just leave. “I’m much stronger than you’ll ever be, so don’t fuck with me right now. You have broken the rules of stealing books of magic that do not belong to you. By the way, one of the books you took that you thought was for spells is only a cookbook. I’ll need that one back.”
“I can’t read.” Bryce said she knew that. “Then how is it you can try me for rules that I can’t read? Hum? Didn’t think of that, did you?”
“Lucky for us you went to one of the witches of the board, not the council, and had them read each rule to you. There are affidavits to attest to that fact. One that you put your mark on, saying that you had them now. I can show that to you, should you wish.” Sara was starting to get worried now. As Bryce read off the things that she’d done, some that she no longer remembered, Sara knew that she was in deep shit. “Do you agree with all these things?”
“Of course I don’t, you dumbass. If I agree to them, it means that I’ve done them. I do not own any of that shit.” Bryce said that it didn’t matter, the people that had seen her doing these things were willing enough to witness against her. “This is just stupid. I’m supposed to take your word for fucking up, and that will be the law that gets me into jail? I don’t know what world you came from, but that just sucks the big one. You’re full of shit if you think that I’m going to let you do anything to me for this shit.”
“I don’t care if you allow me to do it or not. My word is law. I am the Grand Witch of all witches. Be they dark or white, all answer to me.” The voice coming from Bryce was dark and full of power. Sara started to stand, to run or do anything that she could to get away from this power hungry bitch. “Sara Dawn Smith, I sentence you to death. The last person that you harmed as a witch will carry out the sentence that I have brought against you. Do you have any last words?”
“What’s he going to do? I’ve already left him for dead once. I can do that again. Come on, Davidson, come on and let me kick your ass again.” Bryce just laughed. “You don’t think I can beat him? I’m going to, then I’m coming after you. You’re just seconds from your own death, Bryce whatever the rest of your name is.”
“You didn’t harm me last, Sara.” Davidson stood up and came to her level. “You should think very hard on who it is you harmed last. I’m sure it’ll come to you as soon as you see her.”
“Her? Another witch, or just a bitch after my magic? I’m full of it, you know.” Bryce said that she was. Again, there was something more there, but Sara couldn’t understand it. “Bring her on. I’m so ready for this to be over.”
“As are the rest of us.” Bryce stood up and bowed low. The sound of something large moving had her turning to the back of the room she was in. “Sara, I’d like to introduce you to Lady Kelly Wilkshire, Queen of the Dragons, Lady of the Castle Wilkshire. May God have mercy on your soul.”
The dragon, a big fucking dragon, came fully into the room. Sara felt her bladder let go. She was going to be killed by a dragon? No, there had to be rules about that. Sara thought for a moment, and realized that there were. Just as Bryce said, she could be destroyed by the very last person that she’d caused harm to. Trying to destroy the room that she had been staying in, that counted as harming her.
“Let’s make a deal here.” The dragon reared up on her hind legs. Her chest, impressively huge, filled with air as she brought more of it into her body. “I will pay you back for those things. I promise. As soon as I kill Bryce.”
The first breath of flames hit her in the face. Her arms felt heavy with the heat that was melting her flesh off as she stood there. As more and more of the flames blew over her, Sara started to scream, to beg for it to stop. The very last thing she remembered, the last thought that entered her head, was that she’d not be able to walk away from this. That Bryce had planned this all along.
Chapter 6
Bryce didn’t like feeling sorry for Sara. But today had been the worst so far in being the Grand Witch. She’d not actually killed her, she knew that. Sara had done it to herself. She had known the rules that governed them all. Without them, Bryce knew that things would be worse than they were centuries ago, when they were burning her kind at the stake.
“Hello.” She looked at Rocky, nearly ready to ask her to go away. “Don’t do that. Don’t tell me to go away when I have a gift for you.”
“I don’t want a gift. I don’t deserve one after this.” Rocky asked her how the hell she thought that. “I had to kill someone today.”
“Did she deserve it? In the event you don’t know the answer to that, she did. She was not only a fucking bitch, but a murderer too. Now, I have a gift for you.” Bryce told her that she didn’t want it. “Too fucking bad. I had to work my ass off to get this for you, and you’re going to fucking take it. Or I’ll make you take it, damn it.”
“You’re very rude. I know you’ve heard that said to you before. But I think you’re worse than you were before you became Connor’s mate.” Rocky smiled at her. “That wasn’t something you should be proud of, by the way. Just leave me alone, and I’ll wallow in my self-pity for a bit longer.”
The slap to her face was hard and very painful. Looking at Rocky, she had a moment of fear, nothing she’d ever felt about the other woman before. Rubbing the tender place on her cheek, she asked what that was for.
“To shake you out of your pity, I guess you could say. You’ve been feeling sorry for yourself long enough. Now, stand up and put out your hand.” She just sat there. “Don’t make me have to jerk your fat ass up off this couch and make you do it. You know that I can.”
“This isn’t getting us anywhere, Rocky. Just leave me alone.” She said she wasn’t going to. “If I do this, will you just go away and leave me alone? I’m beat up enough today, thanks to you.”
“I promise you that if you don’t like my gift to you, I’ll never bother you again.” She seemed so sure of herself that Bryce hesitated a little longer. “Are you going to stand up and put out your hand? Or are you going to sit there like a pussy and cry yourself into a nap? I can find you a binky if you want me to.”
“Christ, I hate you. Yes. I’ll do anything to get you to go away.”
Putting out her hand as she stood up, Bryce felt the coldness seep into her fingers when there was nothing there. Jerking her hand back, she glared at Rocky. Putting her hand back out, glaring at Rocky the entire time, the cold seemed to seep right through her entire body.
“Hello, Pumpkin.” Turning quickly, she lost touch with her father. Standing up, Rocky took her hand and then one she couldn’t see, and put them together. “There you are, my child. My goodness, how you’ve grown up to be a beauty.”
“Daddy? Is that you?” He nodded, and Bryce looked at Rocky. “Please tell me this isn’t a joke. I’ll never forgive you if it is.”
“Such faith in me. My, I’m overwhelmed by it. He’s real.” Rocky put her hands over both of theirs. “I bind you together for all time. You will see him whenever you wish and he is acceptable to it. There are rules for this too. One, you have to be willing to allow him to go when he needs to. Staying where you can see him is exhausting to the dead. Second, you need to drink plenty of fruit juice. Not that fake shit, but the real stuff. It’ll be exhausting for you as well. Okay?”
“Yes. I can’t thank—” Rocky cut her off. “You did this for me, and I’ll never forget this. Thank you.”
“Yeah? Just a minute ago you were ready to blast me.” Rocky looked at her hard. “Your mother and grandmother do not know he’s here. I didn’t tell them in the event you wanted to do that.”
“No, you have to
tell them to come here. They need this as much as I do.” Rocky winked at her. “What was that for?”
“Unselfish love will strengthen him more.” When her father’s arms wrapped around her, Bryce sobbed. She felt his arms around her. His love, always the first thing she felt, was engulfing her. Her daddy was here. Rocky spoke again before leaving them. “Have fun. I’ll go and talk to your family now.”
She didn’t ever want to let him go. The more she held onto him, the harder she cried. Her daddy was right here like he’d never left her. Her father was here holding her like he’d done every day until he’d been taken away from her.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy.” He looked at her and asked why. “Because I made you teach me all that magic. We were outside, where you could have been seen teaching me the best magic you could. I got you killed.”
“Oh honey, no. You didn’t get me killed. A monster did. A man who was jealous of you, and he took me away from you to deter you from being what you are. The very best.” He moved her hair from her cheek. “I’m so very proud of you, Pumpkin. Every day I come to see what other magic you’ve come up with. You are the best part of me. The best part of both your mother and I. I couldn’t have stopped myself from teaching you everything I knew even if you’d not been the best child in the world. I was, and am still, so happy to have you as my child that I can’t stay away.”
“Holy Jehoshaphat.” Turning to the doorway, she saw her grandmother and mom. Grandma didn’t move, but Mom came running up to her husband and was able to hug him as well. Grandma kept repeating, “Holy Jehoshaphat” over and over.
“Oh, Austin, I have missed you more and more every day. To be able to hold you like this. To touch that wonderful face of yours. To feel your love shining to me even after death. I don’t know what to say.” Dad said that Mom had done a very good job of saying it. “Yes, well, I’ve been thinking about you for a long time.”
“As I have you, my heart. Every day, not a minute goes by that I don’t come to see you. Watch you in your work. See you putting up my favorite jams and jellies, even though you don’t care for them. I love you, Laura Frost; I love you with all that I am.” They hugged again, and then Dad pulled Bryce into his arms as well. It was the most wonderful feeling, having her dad right there with her again. “My beautiful girls.”
When he let them go from the hug but still held their hands, he looked at his mom. Grandma was still standing in the doorway, not having moved at all. Dad moved toward her and kissed her on the cheek. It was just too much for her, and Bryce had to sit down again.
“Mother? How have you been?” The crying was heart shattering. Not in a bad way, but the love that came through that sound made her realize that her grandma had missed her little boy as much as she had her daddy. They hugged tighter than he had her and Mom. Dad kissed his mom all over her face and eyes while he cried as well. “I never thought to touch you again. I never dreamed that I could come here and see my family again.”
“Neither did we. What took you so long, son?” Everyone laughed at Grandma when she spoke to Dad. After sitting on the couch, the four of them stumbled over talking as if they’d never missed a day in the last, what seemed like a few hundred years.
They talked for hours. Tea was brought into them, and she asked her dad if he wanted any. When he only smiled at her, she remembered then that he was gone and her heart broke again. They’d not have tea together. They’d not have holiday meals together.
“Pumpkin, don’t think of things that we cannot do now. Only think of the things that we can. I’m here, and will be forever if you need me.” She told him that she would forever need him. “I hope so. Don’t be thinking that we’re never going to do whatever. Just think of the things that we can now share. Things like your day. As mundane as that sounds to you, I’m looking forward to hearing about everything you do.”
“Noah.” She stood up, thinking that Noah would need to meet her dad. “I completely forgot about my husband. I should call him here.”
“Next time.” She could tell that he was getting tired. He would fade a little before coming back to talk to them. She needed to make him go rest, so that he could come back another time. She of all people was not going to be a rule breaker, not on this. “As you can see, I must go now. It does take a great deal out of me to be here this long.”
“You’re coming back. Right? You’re coming around to see us again.” Dad told Mom that he’d always be around, but she could see him only a few days a week. “So long as I know that you’re going to be here again, I can live with that. Oh, Austin, I love you with all of my heart.”
Mom and Grandma said their goodbyes and left them. Bryce looked at her dad when he told her that he loved her. There were so many things that she wanted to tell him, more things that she wished to ask him about. But he only put his fingers over her lips and looked at her.
“Seeing you now, happy and well-loved, is all a man could hope to happen to his only child. Noah is a very lucky man; does he know that?” She was so choked up by emotion that she could only nod. “My baby girl is all grown up. I missed so much with you, Bryce. When I return, I’ll tell you what it is you want to know. But for now, let’s just focus on what we have. All right?”
“Yes. I love you, Daddy. I miss you so much.” He held her while she cried again, and then she pulled back. “Go now, before I beg you to stay. Just know that you have been in my heart since the day they took you away.”
“And you mine, Bryce. Every moment.” He faded out more, and then came back. “You will want to thank Rocky for this, but not too much. She only wanted this because she knew that you’d had a bad day. I’m so happy that she made it special for us all. Tell her that I said thank you as well.”
He was gone before she could tell him that she would tell her that. Sitting back down on the couch, Bryce sobbed for what she’d missed. Cried for all the milestones that her dad had been with her and she’d not known. Lying down, she cried some more because him leaving her this time seemed so much more painful. But knowing that he’d be back made her happy too.
The questions that Bryce wanted to ask him were about the day that he’d been murdered. If he’d suffered with what had happened to him. Ask him if he knew that it had been a lie, all of it. Black had done this to them, taken away a great man that had loved her so very much. Noah did as well, but a girl’s first love would always be her daddy.
Noah woke her up and told her that he loved her. She told him what Rocky had done for her and how they’d visited with her dad today. He picked her up and put her on his lap. She so loved this man.
“Rocky asked me about him this morning. His name and such. She said she was doing this because you were a fucking know it all, and she wanted to outdo you.” They both laughed. “She knew that you were depressed about the death this morning, and wanted to do something for you. I thought it was about the best gift that she could have done for you. Was it?”
“Yes. Dad told me not to thank her too much because it would piss her off. I think that it would embarrass her too.” Noah agreed with her. “But I will have to find something that will make her feel as good as she has me. I don’t know what it might be, but I’m going to give it some thought.”
She would too. Find something that would equal what was in her heart right now. Bryce had no idea what it might be, or when she’d be able to give it to her. But thinking about having a great many years to do it might be what it took. With a sigh, she kissed Noah on the mouth and told him she was starving.
~*~
Connor was just going over the books for his new business ventures when Randal joined him in the office. The little guy had lots to tell him, but he was watching the computer as it downloaded the next file of information. When it was finished, he stepped on the keyboard, careful of the keys, and looked at it.
“There is nothing like this for the faeries to have around. I was thinking how much be
tter it would be for us to keep track of all the flowers and such. Don’t you think?” Connor told him that it more than likely would make it easier to track them. “Just last month the counter made a mistake in how many seeds we’d need to save for next year’s planting. He missed a zero. Now we’re going to be short some of the pink poppies that we love so much. It’s helpful in a lot of magic for us too.”
“Don’t move, and let me see if I can help you out with that.” Pulling up a search on pink poppies, the beautiful flower was there for them both to see. “I can order the seeds that you’ll need if you want. Even some that I bet you don’t have around here. See this? That is the order form for the seeds, and how long it will take for them to get here.”
He and Randal worked on the flower order for about an hour. It was fun—the most fun he’d had in a while that didn’t involve his new wife. After a while, Roxanna joined them and asked him about other things that they could get for them. Anything, Roxanna told him, to make his job better.
After that, it was just searching for information on things such as greenhouses that could be set up, as well as watering ideas for large areas of plants. Before he realized what he was doing, Connor had put in an order for not just a system to keep greenhouse water, but an entire greenhouse as well. Before he was able to press “order now,” Randal stopped him.
“They got them the measurements right there, don’t they?” Roxanna told Randal that they could probably get them off the Internet. “Well, I’ll be dog wild. Is that right?”
“Sure. I mean, there are all kinds of plans for just about anything you wish to make. How it works and what you need to make it work.” He asked her if he could give it a shot. “You mean trying to build you one? I don’t know why not. I mean, it would be simple for you after what you did for this house. How many plants do you think you can grow in one?”
Connor: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 7
