Page 25 of Dragon Tempted

Tessa walked over and sat on the couch, followed by Adam, who sat next to her. Eric joined them on the couch as well.

“I’ll just grab the corner chair,” Ryan announced before dragging it closer to the group.

Sienna motioned to one of the chairs for John, and she took the other. They were all seated, but no one was relaxed. She decided to kick things off. “Thank you for being willing to meet with us, John. Before you leave, we want to make sure we go through everything we have regarding the curse so we can protect Bella and Lily.”

The door opened and Megan walked inside carrying a stack of books with a baby monitor sitting on top. “Sorry, Bella was being fussy and wouldn’t settle down for her nap. She usually goes right to sleep.”

Eric frowned. “Is she feeling okay?”

“I think so,” she said as she made her way over to sit next to Eric on the couch. “What did I miss?”

“You’re actually right on time,” Sienna said. “We were going to review what we have on the curse, so why don’t you start.”

Megan set the books on the coffee table and the monitor beside them. “We know the Death of Magic painting was created to memorialize the fight between the witches and the dragons.” She turned to John. “After John’s parents were killed during the fight, your witch grandmother created the curse to destroy dragons.” She paused before continuing. “I’ve never asked you before, but do you remember what happened that day, John?”

He looked down for a moment, and Sienna didn’t think he was going to answer. “I remember flashes of things. Screams, fire, blood.” He opened his clenched fist and stared at his palm. “My grandmother sliced my palm open and let the blood drop into a bowl on top of purple flowers—lavender, I think. She mumbled something that I couldn’t understand. It must have been the curse.” When he looked up, his face devoid of emotion. “After that, I went to live with my dragon grandfather.”

There was a lot more to the story he was leaving out, but Sienna wasn’t going to push him. She was surprised he’d offered what he had in front of the group.

Megan swallowed. “Okay. So we know the first paragraph of the scroll we found hidden in the painting’s frame is the curse. But what about the second paragraph added?” She closed her eyes and recited it.

An oracle born

Templars united

Blood will be shed

Forgiveness and Sacrifice

Magic restored

Tessa leaned forward. “Why would your grandmother include this? It’s the way to break the curse, right?”

John nodded. “It definitely appears that way. But I’m not sure she had a choice.”

“What do you mean?” Eric asked.

“Even though I’m half witch, I was raised as dragon when my grandmother and the rest of my mother’s family disowned me. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t learn some things over the years. Magic is all about balance. The bigger the magic, the more safeguards are put in place. Many spells are harmless or cast for good. But a curse is something that very few witches would dare cast because of the repercussions. And the curse my grandmother cast was the worst kind, filled with destruction and hate. When she penned the curse on the scroll, she wouldn’t have written a way to reverse it. But maybe another witch did, or maybe the universe did to let us know how to break the curse before all magic is lost.”

“I don’t like that the first line talks about oracles,” Adam growled.

Tessa reached for his hand. “None of us do. But it doesn’t mean Lily or Bella are a part of the fight. It could just mean that their birth is the beginning of reversing the curse.”

“Plus the curse talks about an oracle being born—singular. We thought that meant Bella until Lily came into our lives. Her birth six years ago could have started all this,” Megan added.

“And now the Templars are uniting. Whatever the hell that means,” Eric said.

Megan reached for a book on the table and opened it. “History talks about the Knights Templars as a religious order fighting during the crusades in the 1100s. They wore the red cross, which is the symbol for St. George, who lived in the 300s and became the patron saint of England and of soldiers. What is interesting is that around the 1100s when the Templars existed, a story emerged about St. George fighting a dragon. Numerous works of art depict the fight. Of course this was thought a myth, but the timing of the story makes me think it was true and the Templars were the ones spreading the truth. If that is the case, the Templars took up St. George’s mantle thinking dragons were evil and set out to destroy them. And during that same time the dragon sentries disappeared which can’t be a coincidence, right?”

John leaned forward. “Stories handed down through generations said that the sentries were the peacekeepers between the witches and dragons. Once they disappeared, the peace broke down, and centuries later it culminated in the final fight in my village.”

“Except they’re more than stories, right?” Adam pulled a necklace out from under his shirt and ran his fingers over the pendant. “This pendant my mother gave me before she died matches the dragon sentry symbol from the children’s story she used to tell us.”

Megan reached for the storybook with the leather cover that sat on top of her stack of books. “In the story, the symbol also appears on the shield that the oldest brother is given by the oracle during his quest to save their people.” She flipped through the pages until she found the drawing and held it open for everyone.

“You mentioned this book before, but I’ve not seen it,” John said.

Megan handed it to him, and he studied the drawing before opening the book to the beginning.