Page 3 of Fangs, Frost, and Folios
“Just make sure you tell Giovanni this time.” Her husband was accomplished in many things, but technology was not one of them. “Last night he was trying to look at something on YouTube, and he—”
“Beatrice!” The vampire in question walked from his study into the living room. “We have a job.”
Dema and Beatrice shared a knowing look.
“What kind of job?” Beatrice asked.
“Not putting tiny ships together.” He reached for her hand over the banister. “I see the look, Dema. There will be no more models. Please tell Zain to take them away.”
“Thank God,” Dema muttered. “Tell me some country lost a national archive or something.”
“That might be more work than we want, but I do know of a missing play.”
Beatrice’s eyebrows went up. Her mate was a dark and dangerous fire vampire, a sixteenth-century assassin, and a meticulous scholar. He could also be incredibly charming when he wanted to be.
“A missing play? I’m listening.”
“A play.” Giovanni led her toward the living room, where a fire was already burning. “By someone you might have heard of before.”
Beatrice’s librarian blood was humming. “And that would be…?”
“A lost comedy by the Bard himself.” Giovanni led her toward a chaise and waited for her to sit before he bowed over her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Love’s Labour’s Won.”
“You’re not serious.” Beatrice blinked. “Do you mean—?”
“How would you like to go to the English countryside for Christmas so we can search a vast aristocratic library for something that may or may not exist?”
“If it’s a lost Shakespeare play, yes!” Beatrice felt as if she’d resurfaced from drowning. “Absolutely yes!”
His deep green eyes were dancing. “I was hoping you’d say that. The library belonged to Lady Penelope Percy-Reed, an old friend of Caspar’s.” He paced in front of the fire.
Beatrice was delighted by his excitement. “How did she end up getting—?”
“Allegedly.”
“An unpublished Shakespeare play?”
“Allegedly,” Dema added.
“Indeed allegedly.” Giovanni’s lips quirked. “Penny’s great-great-something or other was an actress if family rumors are to be believed.”
“An actress?Scandalous.” Beatrice’s heart began to race.
“This was during Shakespeare’s time?” Dema perched on the back of a long couch. “I thought women weren’t allowed to act then.”
“According to Penny, her ancestor was a noblewoman who disguised herself as a young man so she could act the women’s parts on the stage.”
“No.” Beatrice grinned. “Are you kidding? That’s amazing.”
“Appalling family rumors are the only proof, of course.” Giovanni slid next to Beatrice and took her hand. “But the delicious rumor was backed up—according to Penny—by the possession of anunfinishedplay given to her ancestor by Shakespeare himself.”
“Love’s Labour’s Won?” The sequel to Shakespeare’s famous comedy had long been rumored, but Beatrice hadn’t found any theories to be convincing.
“I honestly don’t know.” He leaned back. “Penny was always vague when she brought it up. It’s possible she fabricated the entire story—she never let facts get in the way of good fiction—but her great-nephew just sent Caspar a letter letting him know that Penelope had passed and that he expected to find various bequests to friends when the solicitors finished their inventory of the library.”
Beatrice cocked her head. “Is that standard?”
“To inventory a family library? Not typical, but not unheard of. Particularly when parts of the library are being designated to various institutions for preservation. It’s convenient for us though. The lawyers are coming after the holiday.” Giovanni smiled. “My plane can get us there faster.”
