Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,39
Jackie will be looking after you—will that be okay?”
Her lip trembled. “What about my mommy? And Reign?”
“We’re going to find them,” Luc said in a reassuring tone. “And when we do, we’ll bring them to you.”
“Is Jackie a witch, like you?”
I nodded. “And so is Ron, her friend. Between the two of them, they’ll keep you safe and keep Winter away from you.”
“He won’t speak to me?”
“He won’t speak to you,” I echoed firmly.
“You’ll come back for me?”
“I will. I promise.”
Some of the tension left her little body, and she nodded. Contract accepted, I thought, and hoped like hell I could fulfill it.
We climbed out of the car and, with Riona holding my hand, walked down to the café. It was a long, odd-looking building standing behind what looked for all the world like a disused toilet block. But it looked out over the nearby park and, on a clear morning, you’d probably catch glimpses of the nearby shoreline from the long line of windows.
Jackie turned and smiled as we entered. She was of average height, with short gray hair and blue-gray eyes. Her face still bore the fading remnants of the bruises she’d collected from the demon that had somehow caught her unawares and beaten her up, but the swelling had at least gone down. She certainly looked far less of a mess than she had the last time I’d seen her.
“Morning, all,” she said, her tone warm and cheery—deliberately so, I suspected. “Ron’s just gone to the bathroom. He won’t be long.”
I nodded and glanced down. “Riona, this is Jackie, the lady I told you about.”
Jackie immediately squatted in front of her. “Lovely to meet you, Riona.”
Riona studied her for a second then said, “What happened to your face?”
“A demon beat me up,” Jackie said, in a matter-of-fact manner.
“Is he dead?”
“He certainly is.”
“Good. They scare me.”
“They don’t scare me. And they don’t scare Ron.” She glanced over her shoulder at the sound of footsteps. “This is him now.”
Ron was a big man with snowy-white hair, a thick handlebar moustache, and a rotund face and figure. Add a beard, and he would have been a perfect Santa Claus.
He also oozed power, though I couldn’t immediately pin whether it was personal or elemental. It seemed to contain elements of both.
He squatted next to Jackie—doing so with an ease that belied his size—and smiled widely. “Do you like Elsa from Frozen?”
“Yes—why?”
“Because I was given a singing Elsa doll the other day, and it’s not really my thing. I thought you might like it—would you?”
Riona nodded.
“Shall we go get her, then?”
She nodded again but looked up at me. “You will come back?”
I knelt down and gave her a hug. “I promised, remember.”
“And Mommy?”
“We’re going to look for her now.”
She nodded, then stepped forward and almost shyly gripped Ron’s offered hand. As they walked toward the door, Jackie gave me a slip of paper with a phone number on it. “Use this number if you need to contact us, as we’ve stashed our regular phones to prevent the possibility of tracking. Mo doesn’t know where we’ll be, and we intend to keep it that way. It’s safer for everyone.”
“Are you sure Ron can stop Darkside from contacting her via telepathy?” Luc said.
“It’s more likely to be a dream bonding rather than direct telepathy—there’s some evidence that halflings can manipulate the darkness to track and connect with their targets.”
I guess that made sense, given one of their parents lived and breathed darkness. “But Ron can stop it?”
“Yes. He’s got Durant blood, which has enhanced his own telepathic abilities and means he can sense darkness in someone’s mind. If you do find the mother, send us a text. We’ll arrange to meet off-site.”
I nodded. “Just be careful, Jackie. Darkside want this kid back bad.”
“They caught me unawares once. The bastards won’t get a second chance at me.” She squeezed my arm and then hurried out the door after Ron and Riona.
I glanced up at Luc. “It’s worrying that we haven’t heard anything from Jason about the mother yet. There can’t be that many clinics in Leeds.”
“I think we both know the mother is on the run. Do you want a drink to take with us?”
“A tea would be lovely.” I took a moment to admire not only the grace with which he moved but also the underlying sense of power barely restrained. “If Darkside can dream speak to Reign, there’s every chance they’ll find her before we can.”