Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: The Witches Of Castle Falls, #4

By Phaedra Weldon

When the Oak King of legend turns up dead on Melody's greenhouse floor, Ginger Blackstone and company set out to discover the killer to restart the Wheel of the Year. But will they succeed when they find themselves up against the Queen of Fairy, an infamous Fellow, a crippling winter storm, and the Goddess Arianrhod Herself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caldwell Press
• Release date: Dec 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393881704

Book preview

Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Witches of Castle Falls, Book 4

Phaedra Weldon

Caldwell Press

For all the Mama D’s in my incredible family. But most of all for my mom, whose tenacity and strength have held us together as a family all these decades.

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I love you mom.

When the Oak King of legend turns up dead on Melody’s greenhouse floor, Ginger Blackstone and company set out to discover the killer to restart the Wheel of the Year. But will they succeed when they find themselves up against the Queen of Fairy, an infamous Fellow, a crippling winter storm, and the Goddess Arianrhod Herself?

One

Riley Prichard, Mildred Thumper’s nephew and Castle Falls’ newest mundane resident, cheerily shoved the new fallen snow off the front walk of his girlfriend’s store. He was so happy Melody had finally agreed that she liked him as much as he liked her. After their meeting and its crazy beginnings, he felt he’d finally been accepted into the community of Castle Falls. At least…within the Blackstone family. Mama D had given him her blessing…and as weird as that had been, it made him feel a bit more confident.

Yeah, he understood the little town was full of things he always believed were part of fiction. And maybe he had a moment or two of this can’t be happening to me one or two times a day, but everything worked out, and he and Melody were happy, and—

Riley stopped in his tracks, his shovel held out in front of him. Had he just seen a flash of green? He moved around the side of the building, intent on shoveling the path between the back door and Melody’s new greenhouse. The tall, spectacular octagonal structure had been the reason he and Melody met. She’d hired him, on recommendation, to build the greenhouse for her. At the time, she hadn’t known he was Mildred Thumper’s nephew, and he didn’t know Melody Blackstone was a witch. Yeah, he’d heard his crazy aunt’s warnings about the Blackstones—and in hindsight, she’d been right. But witch no longer meant the same thing to Riley as it had when he moved to Castle Falls to look after his uncle Thumper after his surgery.

He stopped by the house when he saw the greenhouse was dark. It shouldn’t be dark, not with the warming lights he’d installed. Had their going out been the source of the green flash? He looked at the house and saw the porch light was on. No power outage, even though the snow was coming down a bit harder now, and the flakes looked like cotton balls.

The greenhouse door opened and closed, but he couldn’t tell if someone had gone in or come out. There was a wisp of a movement of grey.

Riley leaned his shovel against the house and crunched through the snow to the greenhouse’s front door. It was unlocked—he and Melody were there—and pulled the glass door open.

The smell of burned hair assaulted him, and he took a step back. He’d learned to recognize that odor from working on electrical appliances. Maybe he’d misjudged the circuit requirement for the bulbs and they’d blown the fuse? Daylight came through the glass and revealed his girlfriend’s collection of herbs and flowers. They were pretty, and Riley had no idea what half of them were. But, hadn’t she just planted them a day or two ago? Why were they now fully in bloom?

He’d built her two tiered planters on every facet of the octagon, except on the left, where he’d installed a worktable and small utility sink. Nothing grew in the center of the greenhouse where he’d installed a wooden floor.

Something green was there now. It was long and cylindrical and covered in leaves, though some of the leaves appeared to be dying. Green wasn’t an odd color, except here in South Carolina in the winter. And the fact it was a very vivid green. Was it sprouting up from the wood itself? Had Melody grown an evergreen or two? Or had her sister Ginger made it grow like this? That was something Ginger was always doing.

He approached the leaf pile and hesitated when he thought he saw…a face?

Riley took two more steps inside, his boots crunching in the snow, and poked at the pile with his boot. It turned over, and an arm flopped over to reveal a man’s bare green chest. And in the center was a hole, and blood covered the wood beneath him.

Cassandra Walker, director of the Castle Falls Public Library, sipped her coffee as she peered through the library’s floor-to-ceiling front glass. There were a few patrons inside, though she knew most were there for the warmth. The library had two fireplaces, which she made sure were lit and stoked before she opened. A blanket of white covered the parking lot, the bushes, and the lawn, and snow came down steadily. The flakes were the biggest she could remember seeing.

She’d lived in Castle Falls all of her life, through countless winters, but she’d never seen one like this. It’d come on suddenly, and the temperature dropped like a stone in a pond. Some areas of the town who signed on with the newer electric company were out of power. Most of the city took its power from the station near the falls that ran off the river’s current. Cassandra worried that if the river froze—which did seem unlikely, given the speed of its current—the whole town would go dark.

No one seemed panicked yet. Even those patrons inside the library. The national weather service—she had the monitors tuned to it in her office and the media room—barely mentioned the unseasonable temperatures for parts of the east. Especially places as far inland as Castle Falls, South Carolina.

A movement outside caught her eye. A man in what looked like a grey suit shuffled across the parking lot. She watched him as he stopped and looked around, then staggered backward before he started forward again. It looked like he was heading to the library door but he also looked…well, drunk.

Cassandra had often opened her doors to the downtrodden, but she’d never seen anything like this. Setting her coffee on a side table, she moved to the glass doors, grabbed her coat hanging on the wall tree, and stepped outside. The man had paused a few feet from the three steps leading up to the front door.

She could see him clearer now. He was indeed wearing a grey suit, but no shoes. He was barefoot in the snow! His hair was dark red and wet and clung to his face. It was his face that took her breath away the moment she saw him. He was young, maybe her age, maybe even a bit younger. He was what she and her best friend Ginger Blackstone would call Drop Dead Gorgeous.

The door behind her opened, and the receptionist stepped out. Miss Walker?

Ben Free was a bear of a young man. Standing at six one, with broad shoulders and a baby face, he’d filled the position as receptionist after Tad Bishop was arrested a few months back. Ben had proven to be the best hire she’d ever made.

Careful, Ben warned her as he stepped toward the staggering young man.

I think something’s wrong, Cassandra said. The young man was staring at her, and she thought she caught a glimpse of piercing green eyes.

I think he’s drunk, Ben said. He approached the man with his hands out. Hey, you okay? You need help?

’Tis… the man began, and then nearly fell forward in a fit of coughing.

That was when Cassandra saw something clutched in the stranger’s hand.

It was a knife.

He’s got a weapon, Ben said. Call Danvers.

Please… the man said as he seemed to see the knife for the first time. He stared at it, eyes wide, and then dropped it.

Cassandra nearly lost sight of it but managed to pick it up with her handkerchief. A white-handled knife.

Abruptly, the man coughed again, and this time blood dotted the pristine snow on the steps. Cassandra wrapped the knife and slipped it into her coat pocket. She moved closer to the stranger and saw something terrible under his suit jacket.

Ben… She held up her hand. Call an ambulance. I think this man’s been stabbed.

You think he stabbed himself? But Ben was already pulling out his phone.

Beautiful, the stranger said to her as he reached out with what she now saw was a bloody hand. Help… It’s all wrong…my fault, And then he fell forward on top of her. Ben jumped in and grabbed the stranger.

"Bring him inside. I’ll call an ambulance," Cassandra said as she watched Ben hoist the stranger into a fireman’s carry and followed him in.

Two

Melody Blackstone thanked her latest customer and handed her their bag. These bags were Melody’s pride and joy. She finally had a logo she loved, something Riley Prichard had made for her as a way to show her he was as multitalented as he claimed he was.

Theirs was a whirlwind relationship, having endured a little over two weeks. Riley was everything Melody usually shied away from. Catholic, very tall, broad-shouldered, red-headed, and…nice. Who trusted men who were nice? She agreed it was a silly stand to take, but, in her experience, nice usually had baggage.

And when her fears were proven wrong about Riley, she was ecstatic, but still hesitant. Nice really was…nice! He was polite, handsome, and a good guy. They actually existed! Melody’s history with men was a ragged one, and something she had decided to just ditch. She could handle being the single, old spinster witch, living in the antique store at the end of the main drive of Castle Falls while her siblings went on to marry nice men and have families she would visit on holidays and endure her nieces and nephews as they consistently asked her, Why did you never get married, Auntie Mel? Do you not want babies?

She caught herself and shivered, immediately dismissing that nightmare.

In no way would she ever allow anyone to call her Auntie Mel!

It was December 14, a week before solstice, and she was excited for Riley to attend their solstice celebration that would kick off the twenty-one days of Yuletide. Yule and Beltane were the big holidays in the small town of Castle Falls, a time when all the groups and covens came together to celebrate their love of ritual and tradition.

Being a Catholic, Melody was sure Riley would understand the ritual…though the symbology might be hard to explain. She’d attempted to explain it to him the night before over his favorite dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. But he’d been more interested in the food and watching her. And, of course, the evening had gone the way most of their evenings had…

Into the realm of privacy and thoughts that made her blush.

The past year had been a tumultuous one, full of danger and mystery. There had been times she believed she might not survive. But as always, her sister Ginger and the vampire shifter boyfriend came to her rescue.

She still wasn’t sure how she felt about David Flanagan. She was getting past the fact he was a bloodsucker, and that he’d had one hell of a crazy maker, not to mention digesting the news her younger sister was also dating a vampire shifter.

And her own brother was now a shifter!

Hey, Mr. Twinkles said as he leapt onto the store’s new countertop. Stop those loud, declarative thoughts. You’re disturbing my nap.

She made a face at her familiar, a very large, round orange cat she cared for more than her own life. Melody scratched the little worrywart on his head, behind his ears, and smiled when his ears flattened and his eyes squinted closed. Oh poo, Twinkles. It’s work time.

But the hairy feline yawned at her and made smacking noises with his mouth. You looked outside? It’s snowing. It’s cold. We need a fire so I can do my cat duties and roll up beside it.

Riley’s gonna bring in firewood after he shovels the walk, Melody said, and made a mental snap in her head. She was supposed to clean out the fireplace! With no customers left,