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

listen to her. She begged me not to go to a meeting because she had this strange feeling that something would go wrong. I told her not to worry. That I would be safe. She thought I was the one in danger and I…selfish bastard that I was…never considered she would be harmed. You see, the world was all about me then. There was a fire at the opera house. Anya died in the blaze.”
    Krisana sucked in a deep breath. Even though she’d been prepared, she still felt the horror of it. When she had touched the door this morning, she’d somehow felt the fire. And the nightmares of pain and panic that had wakened her during the night for years, had to be Anya’s ghost reaching out. Tears filled Krisana’s eyes.
    “And now you are back,” Lord Daniels said softly. “You’ve come back to me.”
    Krisana blinked away her tears, and recoiled at the desperation in his voice. He had to have seen her movement because his hands fisted and his breathing rasped harshly.
    “I’m sorry for your loss, but…I’m not Anya,” Krisana whispered.
    “I know you are not her, but for me, I feel that her spirit lives within you. I hear it in your voice when you sing. I see it in your smile. I feel it in your presence. I can’t tell you how much joy that brings me at this point in my life. That’s one reason I’m giving you half of the opera house, because I know you’ll love the place as Anya did. The other two reasons are, I’d like for you to perform her opera for just me tomorrow night, on Valentine’s Day. It was when she’d planned to sing it. And the last reason was me being a romantic fool. I’d hope you and my nephew would take an interest in each other. He’s like I was at his age, only a much better musician and singer. You’re like Anya and I thought that by giving you both the opera house, you two would make Anya’s dreams come true. So I want you to think about performing Come Back to Me at the opera house tomorrow night, on Valentine’s. Let me know your answer tonight at dinner. It would mean the world to me. JD would accompany you. For years I despaired that he’d waste his talents on rock music, but he’s come along recently.”
    “He did the pipe organ justice earlier. I keep forgetting to ask. What does JD stand for?”
    “Jack Daniels, but don’t tell him I told you. He’ll shoot me for it.”
    Krisana winced.
    “Yeah,” he said. “I always thought my brother had poor judgment, God rest his soul.”
    The idea of doing a private performance of a dead woman’s opera for her grieving, elderly lover seemed strange, yet it felt like fate.
    Lord Daniels set several things on the table before her. One was the Come Back to Me opera score, the others were small books with fire damaged edges—Anya’s diaries. Krisana shivered, feeling as if she already knew what she’d read between the pages because of her dreams.
    She picked up the opera score and slid her finger over the hand-written page. Anya had had beautiful handwriting. “I don’t see any reason why I can’t—”
    “No dear. I really insist you take a little time to think about it. Read through the opera and let me know at dinner tonight. I don’t want you to feel you’ve been coerced and to really do the opera justice, you’ll have to see and feel for yourself the story Anya was trying to tell. If after going through it you don’t, then I’ll understand.”
    Krisana smiled. “All right. I’ll give you my answer tonight.”
    “Good. For now I’m going to rest. I feel a storm coming on. My old bones ache. You sit here and enjoy more of the observatory. If you’d like to take a swim or use the hot tub, there are guest suits in the changing rooms and Martha can get you anything else you need.”
    He backed his wheelchair from the table and motored adeptly out of the observatory. She eyed the hot tub. A steamy soak was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Chapter Five

    K risana leaned back in the bubbling water and shut her eyes against the