It occurred to him that Roxanna thought that Randal was going to make himself a greenhouse that would fit his size. Connor knew better. They would have this up in an hour if he was to print up the specs on the thing. So, knowing what Roxanna didn’t, he printed them up, making them a tenth of the size of what he normally printed, and handed them to Randal.
When the little man left him, Connor pulled Roxanna into his lap. She settled there nicely, and he asked her what was wrong. After she turned and glared at him, he felt his dragon move back from her. She scared the both of them at times.
“Everyone I know is calling me Roxanna. Thanks to you.” He said that he loved her name. “I’m sorry; did someone ask me if I wanted to be called that? No, they didn’t. They just started changing it from Rocky to Roxanna because you keep telling people that’s my name.”
“I don’t know if you know this or not, but that is your name.” She punched him in the arm. “What else is bothering you? You’re meaner than you usually are.”
“I’m not mean.” He laughed “Okay, I’m mean, but I’m feeling out of sorts. Like I’m missing something that I should have already done.”
“I don’t know what it would be. You’ve been running around town like a mad woman since Sara was killed. Could that be it?” She said that she didn’t think so, but was happy that she was gone. “Did you hear that Richard is staying here?”
Roxanna jumped up off his lap and left him sitting there. When she returned a minute or two later, he asked her if she needed his help. Shaking her head, she said no, but she would like his company. Following her into the living room, he wondered what she was up to.
“His books. I have them.” Connor said that he’d forgotten about them. “Yes, me too. I need to give them back to him. He’s coming now for them. I should have returned them to him the moment that he came here. I hope he’s not pissed off.”
“At you? Doubtful that anyone in their right mind would be pissed at you. You’re a little on the rough side at times.” She smiled at him. “Where are they, anyway?”
She reached up to his ear and tugged on it. When she came away with the books, he could only stare at her. There were four very large volumes of books that looked as if they’d been hand pressed, and the paper was homemade as well. Touching the top book, he jumped when the title of it came up. Before that, it had been blank.
“What’s going on?” He asked that because she looked as shocked as he felt. “Roxanna, what just happened?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. They’re not for anyone other than Richard to look at. You not only opened the book, but I’m betting that you can read what is in it.” He asked her if she could. “I don’t know now. But I’d rather wait until Richard gets here before I check.”
As soon as the man pulled up, the two of them met him on the front porch. Richard paused right outside of his car. When he finally smiled, Connor wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad one. Richard was as difficult to read as any person he’d ever met.
“You must have a bit of witch in you, dear dragon.” Connor told him that he was a pure blood. “Yes, I’m sure you are, but that doesn’t mean that someone along your long life didn’t give you a bit of themselves. Whoever the witch or warlock was, they gave you enough that you can see into each of those books now in your hand.” Richard looked at Roxanna. “Can you see in them too?”
“I’ve not tried. They’re your books and I know the rules—always a fucking rule about looking into others magical books.” He asked her to look. “I don’t know if I want to or not. That’s something that can get a person like me into a world of pain.”
“I’m giving you permission to look into my magic. Please, I want to see if you both have this, or just Connor here.” Connor asked Richard if he knew what they were dealing with. “I think I do. But if you don’t mind, I’d like for Roxanna to see first of all.”
Taking the second book off Connor’s arm, she touched the cover. The cover revealed that not only was it not dark, but that it was covered in something akin to blood. As soon as Roxanna looked up at him, he could see that she was terrified. At Richard’s coaxing, she opened it to the first page. Clearing her throat, Roxanna read it.
“All creatures, human or otherwise, that can read this, know that you have found the last magic of the Grand Witch Annabella, first witch of the realms, leader of all new and old witches here about.” Roxanna looked at Richard, and he looked at her as well. “Is this really what this is? The magical book of the first Grand Witch of all time?”
“I have no idea. To be honest with you, I don’t even know what the other books are about. I picked those up decades ago when I was at an estate sale. They were lying on a bench that I wanted to buy. I later gave them to Anna thinking she’d have fun with them, not having any idea what they were about. She only just gave them back to me after Devon was born. As soon as I touched them, I thought them to be special. Since then I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get them to speak to me.” Connor asked him what happened now. “They all four belong to you. Since you were able to read them, I can only assume that whoever left them on the bench knew that someday I’d be able to find the two of you. Connor, read the first page of the last book, if you please.”
Opening the book up, the words written there seemed to shift around until they were in an order that he could read. The script was very old and elegant. The paper seemed to be much older than the other two books. As he read over the first few words, he looked at Richard. He told him to please read them.
“To my darling Roxanna and her mate, Lord Connor James, Prince to the Castle of Hillcrest, dragon to the Hillcrest Castle. Such a long thing to say. I am grandmother to Roxanne, now a princess. I leave this book out where it can be found so that it can be brought to the two of you for a wedding gift.” Connor just stared at Richard again. “You did this, didn’t you?”
“I swear to you both, I have never been able to read a single word in any of those books. I don’t even know why I kept them all these years. But now I know. It was for the two of you.” Connor looked down at the book as Richard continued. “I have no spell books of my own. I have never seen the reason for writing them down when they were so paltry in their magic. You see, I’ve never really been a very good witch. Just one to bring comfort to those around me.”
“Did you have any idea when you had me hide those that they weren’t for you?” Richard promised Roxanna that he had not. “Why did my grandmother have the first book of the Grand Witch? Did she know her?” Richard was still laughing when he got into his car and left them standing there. “I could really hurt that man for this. I’m sick of not having answers when I ask people questions, aren’t you? I’m going to hunt him down and make him—” Connor was nervous when Roxanna stopped speaking. The look on her face made him think that she’d just figured something huge out. He asked her what was wrong. “My grandmother’s name was Annabella. Annabella Grand. How could she be the first Grand Witch? She could barely keep her checkbook balanced.”
“I don’t know, but I think we should talk to Bryce. She might know a little bit more about this than we’ll ever be able to find out.” He looked down the road where Richard had gone. “Then we’ll hunt him down and beat the shit out of him. Together.”
Chapter 7
Roxanna climbed the ladder to the top of the barn. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but damn, this was higher than she was comfortable with. Trying her best not to look down when that was all she wanted to do, she thought of the book that was supposed to be here. Randal sat on the next rung of the ladder when she paused.
“Tis here, my lady. I cannot touch it because of the magic that surrounds it. You will be able to.” She asked him how he knew that. “Well, I’m not sure how I know. I just do. I’m not one for lying to my mistress, you know.”
“I’m sorry if I offended you, Randal. I’m just scared to be up here.” She
glanced down at Connor, who stayed below because she had decided that the ladder was much too rickety for him to use. “What if I fall or the ladder breaks under my weight?”
“The faeries are here to catch you. They will not allow you to be harmed. And Lord Connor is there too. I do not think he would allow you to be harmed either.” She nodded and moved up the rest of the ladder. Newt was there waiting for her.
“‘Tis here, my lady. Just here.” She moved to where he was, trying her hardest to breathe through her mouth and not her nose. “The rats have taken up residence here.”
“Don’t tell me that.” She snapped at him, then immediately felt bad for it. “I’m afraid of them, you see. I have no idea why, but even squirrels scare the shit out of me. I’m sorry for yelling at you, but when you have that sort of information, just don’t tell me until I’m down on solid ground. All right?”
“Yes, my lady.” She told Newt that she was sorry again. “You’re right. I should have thought about my words. Sometimes I don’t remember that they can hurt you and not me. I’m sorry.”
Roxanna wondered if he realized that he’d just told her that the rats could hurt her. Moving to where he’d pointed, she saw the big black book stuck in the rafters. Wondering why someone would hide it up here, she reached up and put her finger on the book first.
“There isn’t any magic that I can feel.” Newt asked her to try and pull it from the rafter. She did as he asked. “Yes, I can feel it now. It’s not very powerful, but it is painful to touch. It was put here by a woman by the name of Allen. That’s all she was called. She hid it so that no one would be able to find out about her family. I can take it now, but there is another one here. Can you check the other rafters for me, Randal?”
As he moved around the upper floor of the barn, she opened the book. The spelling wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, but there were a great many misspelled words. The dates on the book had her thinking that she had a real treasure in her hands.
The first date on the book was January first of 1772. The last year was 1833—just a few years after it was deemed illegal to have slaves. She put the book in the backpack that she’d brought with her, and moved to where Randal had found something else.
“What is that?” He said that he didn’t know because he was afraid to get very close. “Let me see if I can find out anything about it before we touch it. It might not be anything we want to tangle with right now.”
There wasn’t any magic on the large tin box. It was so dark with dust and other things that she was sure that was the reason that it hadn’t been found before now. As she pulled it down, one of the other faeries came back to tell her that they’d found two more of the books and that she could touch them. As soon as they brought her the other books, she made sure that there was nothing more up here to bother with, and then made her way down the ladder again. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Connor held her. For some reason she was as weak as a kitten.
“Fear will do that to you, I’m thinking.” Roxanna, giving up on her name being Rocky, told him that she thought that might be it. As soon as she was steady on her feet, they left the dark barn and made their way to the car. “This is the most illegal thing I’ve done in years. And I have to admit, it was the most fun I’ve had too.”
The barn had been at the back of a property in another county. After searching for a few days to see who might own it, Roxanna had given up and said that since no one owned it, they’d just go and get the shit out of it. That didn’t go over well, until tonight she’d had enough of waiting around and decided to go and figure it out on her own. That was when Connor decided she might be right.
As they drove home, she told Connor what she’d found. The tin box, she told him, was heavy, and she’d not had a chance to open it. He told her that he thought that it might be more fun to do it at home, when there wasn’t a chance of them being arrested.
“Nah, you would have burnt the person to a crisp and we’d have been home free.” She was teasing, but he looked at her, shocked. “I’m kidding, Connor. We wouldn’t have had any trouble being there. No one knew who owned it. We didn’t use much in the way of lights, and it’s doubtful that anyone is living in that house. Did you see that sucker?”
“Yes, it was pretty worn down. I’m going to have to ask someone that we might know on the other side if they knew anyone that lived there. Not even Devon knew about the place.” That was weird to her, but she didn’t comment. He’d basically built this place—or his family had, she supposed. “Anyway, we’ll get home, look this stuff over, and see what we can do to help out April. She’s prepared for there to be nothing about her or her family in any of the books.”
“The times are about right for her date of death. But if this is the right book, that’s going to be the thing. I know nothing more about slavery than I learned in school. Even the little that they taught us was terrible. I don’t know how people could treat people like that. We’re all the same, you know?” Connor said he’d seen it most all of his life. It would be a different group at different times. “I guess so, but that doesn’t make it the least bit right.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
As soon as they turned off the car, Roxanna looked at their home. It looked a great deal like the other house might have looked had someone taken care of it.
“What are you thinking?”
“I was just thinking about the similarities of the two houses. I wonder if the same person built them both.” He said that he could see that now. “We should see if the faeries need a—what the hell is that?”
Connor was laughing when she got out of the car. She moved closer to what she was sure she was seeing incorrectly. The biggest greenhouse she’d ever laid eyes on was in their side yard. Not only that, but she was positive that it was full of greenery. Opening the door, she was greeted with about two thousand little people yelling “Surprise” at her. Then Randal landed on her shoulder.
“We might have enlarged it a wee bit. But we was having so much fun thinking of things that we wanted to put in here in the colder months. Plus, and this was a bonus that we didn’t think about when we started, but there is a goodly amount of heat in here, so that we can live here should we want.” She asked him why they’d want to. “Oh missus, you don’t want all of us in your home. There be too many of us, and once we’re there, we’d be making changes all the time. You’d be in a tizzy all the time about it. I know that I get that way at times when I go home.”
“I would think that you’d want to live at your home instead of with us. I mean, I’m not saying that I want you to leave, but you must miss your family.” Randal told her that he saw them plenty enough. “I guess. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay with me all the time.”
“Lady Roxanna, it is a great honor to be living with you and Lord Connor. You being able to do what you do to help so many people makes them happy. They might even spread that happiness to someone else because of you. And a happy human will spread his happiness to others like him. It’s wonderful for us. But it is an honor, a great honor, to be staying in your home.” Roxanna told him that he honored her by wanting to stay with her. “Thank you, my lady. You’re very kind to everyone.”
She didn’t have any idea where he might have gotten that idea, but she smiled at him. Then he showed her around their greenhouse. It was really big, tall too, but he told her that was for the faeries so that they could build them homes in the top so that they’d be close to the sun. She liked that idea.
Roxanna also liked the idea of the greenhouse, now that she was used to the size of it. There would be fresh things year round. A lot of plants in the house to smell and to cook with. They’d put in a huge herb garden that she simply loved. Also, he explained to her that they had a stash of their own seeds, horded from years past, that they’d start growing again. Roxanna was enjoying herself so much that she forgot about the bag that she’d br
ought home, and the tin box.
Dinner was ready by the time she could tear herself away from the greenhouse. She thought that she’d love to just spend time out there in the winter months, simply to think about the coming spring and the flowers that would be up soon. She and Connor ate most of their meals in the kitchen, and she enjoyed that as well.
“I’ve been looking into your grandmother for you. Well, not me, but Bryce and Kelly. When you didn’t come in right away, I had to occupy my time somehow.” She told him she was sorry. “Don’t be. I was as surprised as you were about the size. I knew when Randal left my office that he’d be building something big. I had no idea that it would be that big.”
“They have a great many plans for the place. Some of the faeries are going to build themselves warmer homes in the top of it. I love that idea.” Connor said that he did as well. “I guess I never thought about it before, but I would guess they’re a great deal like hummingbirds and need to be warm when they can.”
“As a matter of fact, some of the hummingbirds that are around are actually brownies. They like to get the nectar from the flowers as much as the birds do. And if a human were to see them, their mind cannot fathom a little person, so they see what their mind tells them to see. Sort of to keep their minds on the right track, I guess.” Roxanna said that she could see that. “Anyway, back to your grandmother. The other two are looking into things as much as they can. Even Nicole is having a good time with helping.”
“Thank you. I don’t know how I got anything done without family around. Do you ever think about how much you depend on the faeries and the rest of the family for things?” He said that he was thankful for them every day. “I am as well. Now, let’s get these things opened up. I can almost feel April wanting us to hurry our asses along.”
The books were bound in the same material. If there was a way for them to test the back and front of them, she wasn’t sure that she’d want to know what it was. It felt like it was made of skin. Roxanna didn’t want to even think about what or whose skin it might have been. Opening the book, as she’d done in the barn, she read the date to April and asked her again what the year of her death had been.
Connor: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 8
