Read Online Protected by Stone (A Paranormal Romance Novel) by Cynthia Brint - Free Book Online Page A

flicker of orange color. Excited, I opened my eyes in a flurry of dark lashes. In front of me, the round glass bulbs sat lifelessly.
    I hadn't honestly thought it would work. My stomach felt only a wink of disappointment... until I looked over, catching Grault's worried stare. Everyone was looking at me, and while some had no real faces to make their emotions clear, I could feel the confusion.
    The worry.
    “I don't understand,” Vibbs said softly. Turning my head, I saw him floating near my lantern on the floor. “You have this, so you must be able to light the other bulbs. Right?”
    And then I understood why Grault had made me bring the lantern. He wanted me to look good, to make them think outright that I was a witch like Tessa.
    “I'm—listen, I'm sure it will be fine. I'll get the lights on in here, fix everything up, as soon as I can.”
    Vibbs drifted back towards the group. “Without magic, how can you do anything? How can everything be fine?”
    I had no retort. There was still so little I knew, was it possible I did need something as intangible as 'magic' to be the caretaker here?
    The creatures were all leaving, wandering silently up the stairs and away. Lifting the lantern, I walked back to Grault. Together, we watched them all go. “I messed up, didn't I?”
    He squinted down at me, dark eyes glistening in the filtered lights of the thick green windows. “I'm not sure you're to blame, Miss Blooms. Not anymore than someone born blind is.”
    His comparison made my neck flush. Blind? What? How am I...
    “Come along.” He twisted smoothly, jacket kicking on his legs. “We've papers to go over.”
    As we left that room of stairs, I cast a forlorn look back at the string of lights. Never in my life had I thought that, one day, not fixing some bulbs would leave me feeling like such a failure.
    ****
    I was having trouble focusing, it was clear Grault had noticed. Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his cheek. “Miss Blooms, are you understanding this?”
    He sat across from me in the main entry, parked beside the large desk with its heavy book. Another chair from along the wall had been moved beside it, a spot I was slouching in rather unlady-like.
    Lifting my chin, I observed his wrinkled lines of frustration. They gave his bloodless looking skin a funny design. “Honestly, I'm not sure I'm capable of understanding any of this.”
    He rolled his eyes, not hiding his mounting dark mood. “Miss Blooms, are you always going to be like this?”
    “Like what, baffled by witch grandmothers, glowing monsters, and lamps that require finger-magic?” I paused, eyeing him as he waited impatiently for me to finish. “...It's possible.”
    Grunting, he smacked the stack of papers into my lap. The contact shocked me enough to make me jump on the seat. “At this rate, you're never going to meet the level of expectation of your guests!”
    “I think I have some right to be upset here,” I muttered. Gripping the papers, I glanced over the top quickly. He'd been trying to explain to me Tessa's will, but it was clear my head was elsewhere. “This is just a lot to take in. It may shock you to know I've never run into anything like what I saw in there.”
    He placed his hands on the desk, gripping it to the point the wood squeaked in distress. “They weren't 'monsters' as you called them.”
    “Then what are they?”
    “They're your guests!”
    “No,” I said, lowering my tone pointedly. In that moment, I felt like I was pleading with him. “What are they, Grault? What is this, what am I really doing here? If what you said is all true, and Tessa was a witch that took care of this place, these—these guests, then I...” I can't do this. I turned away, staring at the front door. “I'm clearly nothing like her. You have the wrong person for the job.”
    He was quiet, stepping close enough that I felt his shadow on me. I wondered if he was about to touch my shoulder, to try and comfort me, and was both relieved and