Page 24 of Defy Me

"Okay." She took his hand in hers and he didn't have the strength to let go. Not yet.

They found the shop that Jakob had described and a little bell rang when they opened the door. Jett sniffed the air, searching for the scent of whatever kind of being this Mrs. Bohacek might be. For a moment he thought he smelled something familiar. Jett pushed Yvaine behind him, and scanned the room for her enemies.

The beast that had been at the pub last night, the one that had been lying in wait for Yvaine was here. In the same breath the scent was gone and his nostrils filled with old smoke, fresh cut grass, ocean water, and warm desert breeze. If all of those smells were here, this woman had helped many a dragon. Perhaps she was also counsel to other paranormal creatures. Even the ones that hunted his Yvaine. Just what was she?

A tall man, with battle scars on his face and a prosthetic arm stepped up behind the little counter and greeted them. "Hello there, Yvaine. Nice to see you again. Welcome."

Yvaine stuck her head out from behind Jett's back and looked at the man. "Do I know you? Have we met before?"

The guy didn't take his eyes off Yvaine. He didn't even acknowledge Jett. "We have young lady. Come in, come in. Can I offer you a refreshment? My lovely mate left us some fresh baked lemon scones. They're vegan."

"Ooh. Yeah, I'm starving. Thanks." Despite Jett's arm holding her back, Yvaine jumped at the plate of baked goods. She bit into one before Jett could warn her not to. "Mmm. Fro moof. Franksh."

Clearly the only danger here was of Yvaine spitting scone pieces at her host by talking with her mouth full.

"You're welcome. Please have a seat." The man indicated to a tall chair and a little breeze pushed it back for her to sit in. "I have good news and bad news."

"Give us the bad news." Jett folded his arms and waited for this guy to tell him Mrs. Bohacek couldn't help them.

"First the good news," he said once again completely ignoring Jett. "I know how you can break your curse."

"Her curse? Yvaine is cursed?" Great. That must be what had her screwing with his shifting abilities. If this man knew how to break Yvaine's curse, he might have knowledge that would break the demon dragon's curse too.

"Uhh, I don't know what you're talking about. What curse?" This time she waited until she finished asking her question before taking another bite of her scone.

Jett reached for one of them and she slapped his hand away. He needed to remember to feed her more often.

"The one keeping you from knowing who and what you are. The same one that has every magic dealer this side of the Mississippi hunting you since you escaped the evil clutches of the convent."

Yvaine paused with her next bite of scone halfway to her mouth. "Holy shirt. I knew it. There were people after me. I was trying not be paranoid, but it's true. Did you say evil nuns? Did they curse me? They didn't seem evil. Maybe Mother Superior, but the rest of them were god-fearing women who cared for orphans like me."

The man laughed. "You're right. They aren't evil. Nuns just always creeped me out. Can't charm their pants off even if you tried. That ain't right. But don't tell Mrs. Bohacek I said that. She'd be mad and I wouldn't be getting any nookie tonight."

Yvaine grinned and winked at him conspiratorially. Jett didn't like that even a little bit. She didn't need to have secrets with anyone but him. He moved closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder, playing with her hair so this guy would know exactly who she belonged to.

"I won't. Promise. Where is Mrs. Bohacek? Ciara and Jakob thought she might be able to help me with my magic. I keep turning poor Jett into a dragon and back again. I don't get how any of this works."

The man glanced down at the now empty plate avoiding looking at Yvaine. "That's the bad news, I'm afraid. She, uh, couldn't be here."

Yeah. He knew it. There was something fishy going on here.

"Oh. Shoot. Why not?" Yvaine's disappointment filled his nostrils. Dammit. He was going to have to teach her not to rely on anyone but herself.

"Well." He sighed long and loud. "That's my fault. She's mad at me and left in a huff when she heard you were coming. In fact, she didn't really want me to be here when you got here either. I had to make certain promises."

"What did you do to make her mad?" She gasped. "Wait. Did I do something?"

"No, sweetness. She likes you. It's the only reason we're talking instead of me getting my ass chewed. Again. She's mad about something that happened a long time ago." For the first time since they walked into the shop the man lifted his eyes to Jett.

What the fuck? He didn't do anything to these people. He didn't even know who they were. "Come on, Yvaine. Let's go. This guy can't help you."

Once again he was ignored. The man slipped something out of the pocket on his shirt. "There is a sure fire way to break any curse, Yvaine."

Hold up. They could stay one more minute. This was the information he'd been waiting on last night.

"You have to find the unicorns. Curses are dark magic and unicorns come from pure white magic.”

Yvaine snickered. "I freaking love unicorns. You're telling me they’re are real?"

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