Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,35
out. “Do you know where your mommy went?”
“She had to take Reign to the doctor.”
“And who’s Reign?” he asked softly.
“My brother,” she said. “My twin brother.”
Twins run in families. It was the first thought that popped into my head, but didn’t really make all that much sense given twins ran through the maternal line not paternal. Max might well be their father, but his genetics wouldn’t have played into the whole twin factor. It was a coincidence, nothing more.
I placed Riona’s quartered sandwich in front of her. “Do you know what time it was when your mom left for the doctors?”
She shrugged. “It was in the morning. I was eating Coco Pops. I love Coco Pops.”
“So do I,” Luc said with a smile.
She frowned at him. “Pops are for kids.”
“Maybe I’m just a big kid.”
She appeared to consider this for a moment and then nodded, as if in acceptance. She picked up one bit of the sandwich and took a bite. “Reign never liked them. He used to pick on me because I did.”
I smiled. “My brother picks on me, too. His name is Max—have you met him?”
She shook her head, but the denial didn’t lessen the inner uncertainty. It would have been easy enough for him to be introduced under a different name.
“I don’t suppose you can tell us your mommy’s name, can you?” Luc asked. “It’ll help us find her.”
“Mommy’s not lost. She went to the doctor.”
The smile twitching my lips was echoed on Luc’s. “Yes, but knowing her name will make it easier to find her at the doctors.”
“Oh.” Riona took another bite of her sandwich. “Her name is Gianna.”
“Gianna Aquitaine?” Luc immediately said.
She shook her head. “Not anymore.”
“What is it now?”
“Same as mine, of course.”
“You didn’t tell us your surname,” he said, with the patience that came with having little sisters of his own.
“It’s O’Brian.”
“And your daddy’s name?”
She shrugged. “I never met him. Only Reign did.”
I blinked. “He never came to your house?”
She shook her head, her gaze rising to mine. There was a very old soul shining out from her blue eyes. “Reign is the important one.”
I instinctively reached out and covered her hand with mine. “You’re just as important as he is.”
“Not to Daddy. Only to Mommy.”
It was said so matter-of-factly that it was obviously something she’d grown up knowing and accepting.
“Are you going to bring Mommy and Reign here?” she added.
“Depends on how sick your brother is. He might have to go to hospital.”
“He didn’t look that sick.”
And maybe he wasn’t. Maybe Gianna had somehow gotten wind of the Aranea’s mission and decided to get her son out of there.
But if that were true, why not take Riona as well? Why abandon her daughter? Was it a case of believing—given Reign was the ‘important’ one—Riona would be safe with her minder?
I shook my head and wished the cosmos would start providing some answers rather than throwing us yet more questions. I glanced at Luc. “Do you know her mother?”
“Not personally. She’s the older sister of an heir and went off the radar about five years ago.” He rose. “I’ll go ring Jason. The sooner he can find her, the better it will be.”
‘Better’ meaning safer. I returned my attention to Riona and talked to her about all manner of things, from her favorite TV show to what she did at school and the play date she’d had with her best friend last weekend. Considering she was in a strange house with two people she didn’t know, Riona was amazingly calm. But maybe that was a trauma response.
When Luc returned, he took up distraction duties. Several cups of tea did little to ease the ache in my head, so once we’d settled Riona down for the night, I grabbed a couple of Panadol from the bottle the medic had given me and then headed back into the living room.
“I’m calling it a night.”
Luc rose from the sofa and walked over. He didn’t touch me, didn’t kiss me, but he nevertheless stopped close enough that his body heat flowed across my senses, warming me in so many ways. The desire to press my body into his, to feel all that strength and muscle against my skin, rose, and it took every ounce of willpower to remain exactly where I was.
If he wasn’t willing to risk falling in love, then I had to resist the pull of desire, no matter how strong it was. No matter how alluring the man.