They wandered through a huge bedroom suite which overlooked the back garden. Bryn spotted her grandmother and Lillith on the veranda in the back yard. She opened the terrace door and walked out. “Hello down there.”
Her grandmother looked up and waved. Bryn waved back and then went back into the bedroom, shutting the door. “That’s one problem solved. Now that they know where we are, we can do a little more exploring. They finished a rooftop observation deck recently, but I haven’t been up there yet.”
“That sounds promising.”
They took the stairs to the third floor and looked around for a way to reach the roof. They’d walked up and down the main hall twice, opening doors that led to more rooms, but there was never a set of stairs to the roof.
“Are you sure there’s a rooftop deck?” Jaxon asked.
“I swear my grandmother mentioned it at breakfast yesterday.” Bryn opened a door to an office they’d investigated before, but this time she noticed that the window opened onto a set of stairs in the same way that the windows at school opened onto terraces. “I think I found it.”
They opened the window and ascended the stairs which wrapped around the outside of a turret and led to a large flat area on the roof surrounded by a low wall. There was a fireplace and more surprisingly, a pool.
“Do we have a pool on our roof?” Jaxon asked.
“It looks like we do.”
“That’s kind of awesome,” Jaxon said.
“My grandmother is awesome,” Bryn said.
“Thank you,” her grandmother said from behind her.
Bryn turned to see her grandmother and Lillith walking toward them. “I wondered if you’d find your way up here.”
“You didn’t tell me about the pool,” Bryn said.
“I thought it would be more fun to let you discover it.” Her grandmother tilted her head and looked at Jaxon like she was waiting for him to say something.
“It’s spectacular.” Jaxon glanced sideways at Bryn. “Even with the lack of W’s.”
Everyone laughed.
“I promise you’ll have your W’s on the front gates once they are installed,” her grandmother said.
“We won’t show Ferrin until that’s done,” Lillith said. “Now Marie and I are going to have tea in the small dining room while you two continue to look around. No rush. I feel terrible for saying this, but this is my first afternoon away from Asher and I’m enjoying myself.”
“Every mother needs some time to herself,” her grandmother said. The two women headed back down the stairs.
Jaxon walked toward the wall on the far side of the pool. Bryn followed after him. She wanted to say something like, See, it’s not so bad being stuck with me. Look at the amazing house you get in return. But there was no way to say it without sounding a little bit desperate. So she went with, “Things seem to be falling into place at an alarming rate.”
He nodded. “It’s like your grandmother is trying to help us acclimate to our circumstances.”
“It will certainly be easier to be happy here than in a house we didn’t like.” It was somehow ironic that her mom was happy in a tiny house with her father, but Bryn needed an extravagant mansion to be happy with Jaxon, or maybe that was what Jaxon needed to be happy with her.
“The view is amazing,” Jaxon said.
Bryn tuned back into her surroundings and looked at the forest that stretched out around them. The trees were bare, but there were enough evergreens mixed in to keep it pretty.
“This could be okay.” Jaxon turned to look at her. “Don’t you think?”
Did he mean them personally or the house? Her answer was yes to both, but she wasn’t sure what he meant, so she said, “I do.”
He smiled and turned his gaze back to the view. His expression changed. “What’s that?”
“Where?” Bryn looked where he pointed.
“By that tree. Is someone sitting there?”
It was hard to tell from this distance. “Maybe someone is taking a coffee break?”
“That’s an optimistic guess,” he said.
Chapter Thirty
“Let’s go see.” Bryn shifted into dragon form.
“No,” Jaxon said. “My mother and your grandmother are here. In case there is an issue, they need to be warned.”
“We can still fly down and go in the back door,” Bryn said. “It will be faster than taking the stairs.”
“Okay.”
She waited for him to shift and then they dove off the roof, aiming for the veranda. Bryn came to a stop, treaded air for a minute, and then dropped to a crouch. Jaxon landed gracefully next to her. They both shifted back to human form.
“Your landings have improved,” he said.
“Thank you.” She opened the back door and they made their way to the small dining room where they reported their concerns.
Her grandmother pulled out a cell phone. “Let’s alert the guards.” She spoke to someone on the phone and then pointed at the two open chairs at the table. “Have some tea while we wait.”
“I thought maybe we’d go see for ourselves.” Bryn edged toward the door.
“You thought wrong,” her grandmother said.
Jaxon gave her a pointed look, but he didn’t rat her out, which was good.
“While we’re waiting, did you want to contribute to the color scheme for the house?” Bryn’s grandmother pointed to the autumn leaf color palette she’d left on the sideboard.
“Some navy would be nice,” he said.
Her grandmother’s cell rang. Her eyes narrowed as she nodded along to whatever she was hearing. “I see. Yes. Yes, that would be best.” She hung up and sighed. “One of the guards will escort us to our SUVs and back to the house.”
“What’s wrong?” Bryn asked.
“The man you saw was one of the crew who has been working on this estate. He’s alive but unresponsive. They’ve sent for a Medic.”
That didn’t sound good. “Silver dragon-pires?” Bryn asked.
“We won’t know until after they’ve examined him,” her grandmother said, “but that would be my guess.”
“There’s no reason to wait for anyone to escort us to our cars,” Jaxon said. “I think we should leave so the guards can search the estate without us in their way.”
“You think someone could be hiding in the house?” Bryn asked.
“It’s logical. There are portions of the building that aren’t complete, so it would be easy to find a way inside. Speaking of which, since we flew down and came in the veranda door, the window to the rooftop stairs is probably still wide open.”
“We closed it,” Lillith said, “but we didn’t lock it.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Jaxon said.
“Not by yourself,” Bryn said. “No one goes anywhere alone.”
“I can take care of myself.” Jaxon stood and activated his elemental swords so that twin blades of ice shot from his hands.
“Yes, but we’re a team and there might be more than one of them.” She activated her bracelet so the sword of fire and ice shot from her right hand.
Her grandmother stood. “I’m pulling rank. Neither of you are going anywhere. I’ll alert the guards that the roof access is unlocked. They can take care of it. And to keep either of you from doing anything which requires weapons, we’ll leave now.” She pulled out her phone and explained the new developments to someone. Then she pointed at Jaxon and Bryn. “Put your swords away.”
“I’ll wait until we get to the car,” Bryn said. “Just in case someone sneaks up on us.”
“She’s not wrong,” Jaxon said. “Mother, let’s go.”
All four of them exited the dining room and made their way to the front door. Bryn went first, and Jaxon stayed by his mother’s side. They reached their rides without incident. Bryn released her sword. “You’ll call if you learn anything from your father?”
Jaxon nodded. “And you’ll do the same if your grandfather discovers anything?”
“Yes.” They climbed into the SUV and the driver took them home.
“Before spotting that poor man,” her grandmother said. “How were things going between you and Jaxon?”
“Pre-dragon-pire issues, we were doing good. I think the estate made him happy. It’s reassuring to know that no matter how strange things are we’ll have a wonderful place to live.”
Her grandmother nodded and there were tears in her eyes. “I wish Sara could have understood that.”