Page 103 of Dragon Tempted

A call to nature

Free us from the flying demons

Fire, air, water, earth

Take their wings

Take their fire

Take their powers

Free the sky

Megan looked at the curse. “I think you just need to change some of the words and leave the cadence the same.”

“Sure. Just leave the cadence the same. Right. Easy-peasy,” Tessa answered in an octave made for squirrels.

“Deep breaths, Tessa. It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Sienna said.

Tessa stared at the scroll. “Okay. A call to nature is a summoning, so I think it can stay the same. Next line. Instead of ‘free us.’” She crossed off the words. “We need the opposite.”

Megan started spouting out words. “Keep? Have? No…Hold on to? Embrace!”

“That’s the one.” Tessa wrote the word on the scroll. “And I’ll change ‘demons’ to ‘dragons.’” She made the change. “The four elements line can stay the same.” Tessa concentrated. “And the next three lines change ‘take’ to ‘give back.’ Okay. One more change. Got it. I think.” Her voice cracked at the end.

Megan hurried to the door. “I’m going to get some lavender out of the back flower beds.”

Sienna took a deep breath, praying that this worked. She walked over to the box that held the dagger, her stomach rolling as she flipped open the lid and picked up the knife, the metal handle warming in her hand. She wanted to hurl it as far away as she could, but she took a deep breath instead.

A minute later Megan hustled into the room with a handful of lavender which she’d obviously yanked right from the earth with the roots and dirt still dangling from the ends. “Marcus said that guards spotted the Templars a few miles down the road. They’ll be here soon.”

Before Sienna could respond, John barged into the room. “They’re coming, Sienna. It’s time.”

She turned to him, and he stared at the dagger in her hand and held out his hands. “There is so much I wanted to say to you. I’m sorry we don’t have more time. But I have an idea. Let me wrap my hand around yours, and I’ll…do it for you.”

Oh, this man. Even now he was trying to protect her. “Well, I have a different idea.”

Chapter 35

John dropped his hands. A different idea? What was she talking about?

Sienna walked over to the desk where the bowl sat all alone, the rest of the desktop’s contents strewn across the floor. “We’re going back to the beginning. We’re reversing the curse.”

He couldn’t have heard her correctly. “Sienna. The Templars are almost here. We don’t have time.”

“Listen to me! We’re trying this first. You don’t have any say, since I’m the only one who can touch this damn knife!”

He blinked at her. His fierce, powerful, and beautiful Sienna.

“Uh. Sorry to interrupt,” Tessa said. “I know that Megan flung all the stuff off the desk onto the floor and that was cool and all, but I wonder if maybe we should try this spell outside. We don’t know exactly what will happen.”

“Yeah.” Sienna cleared her throat. “Let’s go out front.”

Megan picked up the bowl as they marched out the door. John didn’t argue since maybe her brothers could convince Sienna to do what needed to be done. They rushed to the front foyer and outside.

Adam and Eric stood with their wings out and their sentry symbols showing. John assumed that they hoped to intimidate the Templars if all else failed. Marcus, Ryan, and several other guards were standing alongside them with their wings out too.

“Why aren’t you in the basement?” Eric barked before Adam could.