Page 50 of The Heart of the Dragon

"I don't think we have days!" Magnus snapped, returning his focus to me as he pulled me against his body. "Whatever you need. I can take it. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you."

"You can't make promises like that to my daughter when you're likely the cause of this. You are going to get her killed!"

The conversation swirled around me like a tempest, drowning out the individual voices as I fought against the pressure in my chest. I felt like I was disappearing, my identity slipping away like sand through clenched fingers. "Someone better start explaining," I said through gritted teeth. "And I don't want some half-baked witchy theory. I want the truth—with hard facts to back it up."

My mother rubbed her temple, appearing overwhelmed. My father paced back and forth across the room, his agitation mirrored in his narrowed eyes. "I don't know what we can do for her," he finally admitted. "The spell that bound her was done over twenty-five years ago when she was but a babe. If we just release it now, it could kill her."

As he spoke, the air crackled with tension, and the burn in my stomach intensified, forcing me to double over from the agony.

"She's going to die if we don't!" Magnus yelled, his voice panicked. I couldn't see him well from my position, but the heat radiating from him told me all I needed to know—he wasteetering at the edge, where rage and protection clashed in a dangerous dance. He was going to lose control to the dragon.

"Please don't shift," I cried. The thought of the home I'd grown up in being destroyed was too much to bear.

"She's right," Isaac growled. "Go outside."

"Fuck you. I'm not leaving her."

"But—"

"Stubborn dragons," Kitra spat, shoving Isaac out of her way. "Go outside and let me handle this.”

"No."

I peered up at Magnus's refusal. "It's okay," I said slowly. "I'm not going to calm down at all if I'm worried about you destroying this house."

"If anything happens to you, it won't just be this house," Magnus threatened. "I'll destroy this entire village and everyone in it. There will be nothing but ashes when I’m done."

My mother gasped and I shook my head in disbelief. The pain was enough to drive me to my knees and I wasn't sure how much longer I could stay upright.

Kitra grabbed Magnus by the shoulders. "Look at me.” When he met her gaze she whispered, “Do you trust me?"

"Maybe. But she's my?—"

"I know," she interrupted, her voice sharp with authority. “Which means your focus needs to be on her and her well being right now."

"I'm your what?" I cried out, the tension twisting tighter in my chest.

"We'll talk about that later. First we fix this mess and then we'll deal with the other." Kitra’s attention turned back to him. "But I need her calm. Are you listening, Magnus?"

He hesitated, seemingly as reluctant to take his eyes off of mine as I was his. "I'll only go because if I destroy this home she will never forgive me. But I'll be right outside that door waiting. Don't let her die. The consequences will be dire for everyone." Leaning in, he planted a soft kiss on my heated skin, and for a fleeting instant, warmth and safety flooded through me.

"I promise you're not going to break. But I might. Stay safe, my precious flower," he whispered before he stepped back, leaving a lingering warmth in the space where he once stood.

"We'll protect the perimeter, make sure no one attempts to interfere."

Magnus exchanged one last worried glance with me before he and Isaac strode out the door, leaving me with a turbulent mix of emotions swirling together in my gut.

Once the door closed behind them, the atmosphere shifted. I inexplicably felt vulnerable without his presence, but at the same time, a rush of gratitude washed over me that my parents’ home would be safe.

"Now," Kitra said, turning to my parents. "Which one of you is going to tell me what kind of magic we're talking about? I also need all the details of this spell and how to unravel it."

Neither of them spoke immediately and Kitra huffed in frustration. "Would you rather I let the dragon handle this? He'svery good at starting fires and biting people's heads off. His threats are his word and if you piss him off or hurt her in any way it's he who will make you pay."

"Violence won't be necessary. We want to help her. We just aren't sure we can. “It's not our magic that did this. It was already done when we took her in and promised to keep her safe," my father replied.

"Keep her safe from who?"

Both my parents exchanged tense looks, compressing their lips, and I could feel my anxiety rising, clenching in my chest like a vise. "Tell her!" I screamed, feeling the pressure tighten. "I feel like I'm going to explode!"

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