Tales From Mysteria Falls by Jennifer St. Giles Read Free Book Online

Isn’t it magnificent?”
    “No need to apologize. I shouldn’t have intruded on such short notice. But I have to disagree. Magnificent doesn’t come close to describing the craftsmanship and beauty of the place. Are you feeling better?”
    Lord Daniels laughed. It sounded like a dry wheeze. “Yes, for now I am.”  He leaned back in his wheelchair as if relaxing. “Tell me about your life.”
    “But I—”
    He held up a shaky hand. “We’ll get to Anya and the opera house soon enough. First, I want to know you. I really do apologize if I made you uncomfortable earlier when I called you Anya. Sometimes the old mind doesn’t want to accept the hand life has dealt me.”
    “Nothing to apologize for. I understand. I know who I am; yet, looking at the portrait made me question. I don’t know what to say about myself. I’m a classical singer, but you already know that. There isn’t really anything else to tell, because that’s all I’ve done.”
    “Then tell me about that. When did you start singing?  What are your favorite operas?  Anything about yourself that’s uniquely you.”  In response to Lord Daniels’ gentle prompts, the story of her life unfolded. She found herself telling him funny stories about her family.
    “My dad always went to the extreme to make me laugh. He’d always say ‘Krissy, you take life much too seriously. Learn to laugh or you’ll never be lucky in love.’”
    Krisana’s heart squeezed as she recalled her father’s words. She hadn’t taken time off since her parents’ deaths two years ago to stop, breathe, and reminisce. And maybe even to grieve.
    “Wise man,” said Lord Daniels. “What would he do to make you laugh?”
    “Anything. We’d be all serious, having just had a lesson from some musical master at a fancy arts center, and my father—in the process of tossing a penny into their very proper fountain—would ‘accidentally’ fall in. Or he’d trip while carrying a chocolate cream pie. I’m not sure how, but he always managed to land with his face right in the middle of it.” Oh, how she missed her parents. She let herself laugh at the memory. It felt good. “Now enough about me. Tell me about Anya and the opera house. How did you meet her?”
      Lord Daniels sighed and sat back in his wheelchair. “She was a beautiful person and an amazing singer. There’s a diary of hers you can read sometime. It’s filled with her memories and hopes and dreams. It can tell you better than I about how special she was. I was a lost soul before I met Anya, a man looking for trouble in all of the right dark places. She was an angel living in Hell. I met her on April 15 th , 1945. My unit was the first to enter the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. She was a prisoner there, near death herself, but had children huddled around her and was singing to them about beautiful things. In a moment’s time, I fell in love with her. You’d think after experiencing such horror, she would be the needy one. But she was the one who brought life to my spirit, love to my heart, and music to my soul. We built the opera house together. It was her dream and I embraced it as I did her, but I didn’t love it as she did. I loved her.”  He laughed and had a coughing spell, but recovered quickly.
    “She planned to write new endings to the legends of tragic lovers throughout history. Tristan and Isolde were the first couple for whom she wrote a happy ending. She was eloquent with words and a master at composing angelic music.”
    Krisana gasped. “ Come Back to Me . She wrote it?”
    “Yes,” he rasped. “But she never got to publicly perform it. She died the night before its premiere—”
    “How?  What happened?” she asked, but she feared she already knew.
    “Me,” he said harshly.
    Shocked by his words and the devastating pain ravaging his voice, Krisana reached out to touch him.
    Lord Daniels pulled back. “Don’t offer me comfort. It was my fault she died. I didn’t