Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10) (12 page)

I hear Kegan bark out a laugh.
 
“I have seen him eat day old bird brains.
 
How badly does the guy smell?”
 
The Witch glares at him from the ground.

“Perhaps we could move this along,” Kallen says stiffly.

He’s right.
 
“Taz, leave the guy alone now.”
 
With a last snarl that shows exactly how big and sharp his teeth are, Taz waddles back to me.
 
Tabitha should stop giving him so much bacon, his belly’s getting pretty round.

“Look, you guys,” I say to the group of Witches who look much less confident in their ability to stop me than they did a few minutes ago.
 
“I’m not here to hurt any of you.
 
I just want to know where my grandfather is.
 
He and I have some things to discuss.”

A new Witch has joined us.
 
She had walked calmly from the house to where we are, no fear showing on her face, no hurry to join the others.
 
She has medium length dark brown hair, almost black, and some of her facial features are distinctly Korean.
 
She is gorgeous and she knows it.

Walking past the other Witches as if they’re not there, she comes right up to me and holds out her hand.
 
“Hello, my name is Jadyn and you must be Xandra.”

Is this some sort of ruse to get my defenses down?
 
Even if it is, I still shake her hand.
 
“Hello,” is all I can think to say.
 
I’m not used to non-Humans greeting me politely.

“I was your Grandmother’s assistant before she
left
,” Jadyn says.
 
Emphasis on left?
 
Do the other Witches not know she returned to her Angel form?
 
Do they even know she is an Angel?
 
“She asked me to stay on in order to assist you when you arrived.”

Funny, Grandma didn’t say anything about that.
 
It seems like an important detail to leave out in our conversation this morning.
 
Or this is just a convenient story to lull me into a false sense of security.
 
I’m leaning more towards the latter.
 
“Assist me with what?”

Jadyn smiles.
 
“With whatever you need.”

I notice the other Witches are giving Jadyn nasty looks.
 
They obviously don’t like her.
 
That’s a point in her favor, I guess.
 
“Where is my grandfather?” I ask for what feels like the hundredth time.

“He was meeting with his Witan.
 
They retreated to the safety of a circle when word of your arrival reached them,” she says.
 
“Despite the security team in place,” she gives Mammoth a disgusted look over her shoulder, “they felt the need to hide.”

I almost laugh at their ignorance but I don’t want to show my hand just yet.
 
The Witches don’t know I can pass through other people’s circles.
 
“Can you bring me to them?”

She’s confused why I would ask that since circles are between realms, but she quickly schools her face.
 
“I can bring you to the place I believe they made the circle,” Jadyn says.
 
I can tell she’s still nonplussed, but her face no longer shows any sign of it.

“Perfect,” I say.
 
“Lead the way.”

“Jadyn,” the redheaded Witch says sharply.
 
“You will not do this.
 
You will not bring these…these creatures in front of the Witan.”
 

I notice he didn’t say King.
 
Something tells me things have changed from when Grandma was here.
 
I wonder how long ago in this realm’s time that she left.
 
Time moves differently here than in the Fairy realm.
 
It’s slower for some reason.
 
It’s not a good idea to ask the Witches, though.
 
That would make me look unprepared, and maybe even stupid, since they don’t know about the time difference, or anything really about the Fairy realm.

With a touch of steel in his calm voice, Kallen says to the redhead, “She will.”
 
There’s no room for argument in those two words.

That doesn’t stop the redhead, though.
 
Silly guy, Kallen is a lot more powerful than he is.
 
“Who are you to say what anyone will do?”

I answer before Kallen has a chance to show him.
 
He would hate himself later if he threw the first blow.
 
“He’s my husband and one of the most powerful Fairies in existence.
 
I suggest you not push him because you will lose.”
 
In the back of my mind, I can feel Tana pulling magic.
 
I guess she doesn’t like the redhead mouthing off to Kallen, either.

Not wanting to admonish her in front of the Witches, I pull a little magic and gently touch it against hers.
 
This is risky because if her magic goes on the attack, mine will as well.
 
Fortunately, she takes the hint and lets her magic go.

“Your husband?”
Jadyn says in surprise.
 
“Your grandmother did not mention you had been wed.”

That’s because she wasn’t invited to the ceremony, nor did it cross my mind to invite her.
 
Embarrassed, I say, “She didn’t know.”

“Oh,” is Jadyn’s response.
 
I am definitely not going to make Granddaughter of the Year in her eyes.

“Wedding details aside, can we move this along?
 
Can you bring us to the Witch without a fight, or are your friends going to try to stop us?”
 
Adriel asks.
 
I love that she makes me look patient.
 
Kallen tries to scowl at her brashness but he’s too glad she said what he was thinking to put any real effort into it.

Jadyn looks at the other Witches assembled and then says pointedly, “These are not my friends.”

I figured that out already.
 
It doesn’t make me trust her yet, though.
 
“Great, we have that settled.
 
Now, fight or not fight, that’s the question.”
 

She smiles at my lame attempt to mangle a phrase from Shakespeare.
 
“I do not believe there will be a fight today.”

Why did she say today?
 
That implies there will be one on another day.
 
If that’s the case, does she know which one?
 
I’ll ask her later in private.

“Then lead the way,” Kallen says gruffly, his eyes not leaving the redhead.

“Jadyn,” the redhead growls again.

Her response is a spell muttered under her breath so he can’t hear it.
 
I can, though.
 
Reaching into her pocket for what looks like a twig, she says, “
Though wind, water, air and fire seek to bring them down, rooted trees must hold their ground.
  
With the borrowed power of the goddess and the mighty oak, your ability to move has been revoked.
 
Stand still as the tallest tree, your roots
take
seed until the goddess sets you free
.”

While the redheaded Witch tries to move his feet that are now magically stuck to the ground, Tana says to Jadyn, “You say a spell as if you know the mind of the Goddess.
 
No good can come from that.”

I agree with Tana even if she sounds like the harbinger of doom.
 
No good can come from claiming to know the wants and desires of a goddess, or a god.
 
They tend to get a bit testy about that.
 
Speaking of testy.
 
“Where.
 
Is.
 
My.
 
Grandfather?”
I ask yet again, this time enunciating each word like they are time bombs set to go off in the next ten seconds.
 
The longer we stand here, the more hostile the Witches get, making it more likely I will have to hurt them.
 
“Please take us to him now.”

With a curt nod and an ‘I’m laughing at you and you can’t do anything about it’ look in the redhead’s direction, Jadyn spins and begins walking towards the house.
 
My entourage and I follow.
 
None of the Witches say anything except the redhead who is shouting naughty, naughty words at Jadyn’s back.
 
I think my ears will start bleeding if I have to listen to him much longer.
 
So I take his voice away, too.
 
Mammoth is still lying silent and hogtied on the ground.
 
I’m going to leave him that way for a while.

Jadyn stops in front of a massive pair of oak doors.
 
A Giant could pass through them with ease.
 
I hear her chant something but I can’t make out what she’s saying this time.
 
The door on the right pops open.
 
I guess it has a magical lock on it.
 
And Jadyn didn’t want us to hear what it is.
 
Interesting.

“This way,” she says, striding through the door and into a foyer that’s a lot smaller than I expected for such a grand house.
 
It has a mirror and a small table off to the side and then an open archway to the left which leads into a sitting
room,
and a closed door on the right.
 
This where Jadyn goes.

Opening the door, she brings us into an office.
 
I don’t think
it’s
Grandpa’s.
 
The furnishings are too feminine.
 
The desk is an antique, but clearly made for a woman’s body size, not a man’s.
 
The curtains are a dusty rose color, pulled tight over two windows.
 
There isn’t any dust in the room, but it feels like there should be.
 
This room obviously hasn’t been used in a while.

As if reading my mind, Jadyn says, “This was where your Grandmother’s assistant sat before she moved to the smaller house on the property.
 
That was before my time.”

I forgot about that.
 
When Grandma figured out that my grandfather was really a weenie with a capital W, she moved out.
 
She only went as far as a few hundred feet away in case Mom came back, but that was the end of her marriage to my grandfather.
 
They were married in name only after.

“Through here is the suite of offices used by both of your Grandparents at one time.”
 
Jadyn indicates a door on either side of a large waiting room.
 
A desk bigger than the first is sitting between them.
 
Behind it is another door.

“What’s back there?” Kegan asks, pointing to the third door.

“That is the conference room,” Jadyn replies.
 
“Apart from the formal sitting room we passed when we came in, the rest of the house is reserved for the royal family.
 
And guests,” she adds, wanting everyone to feel welcome.
 
She’s good.

“Is the King in there?” Kallen asks.

Jadyn nods.
 
“That is where they were when the alarm sounded.
 
I assume that is where the circle was made.”
 
Curious, she asks, “Are you planning to sit and wait for them to come out?”