Page 59 of The Heart of the Dragon

"It was a grand time in history when it was built, full of formality and chaos that nothing else can rival. At least until the curse."

My curiosity piqued, as did my nerves. "A curse?"

"It's a long story, but the nuts and bolts of it was that when my father settled in this realm, witches and dragons immediately became mortal enemies. They fought over land and magic and pretty much every other natural resource.

“To their credit, both sides tried to compromise and find a way to co-exist, but eventually the witches gave up, and instead cursed the dragons."

"Those bastards tricked us. Used a woman as a trojan horse, and we didn't see it coming," Isaac grumbled.

"What did the curse do?" This story sounded straight out of one of the many fairytales I'd read as a child.

"Banished us. Although I don't think it worked quite like they'd expected as we ended up here instead of the fae realm we'd originally come from. But we were still good and stuck. We couldn't move more than fifty or so miles from here, or contact anyone. And it was not for lack of trying. Every time we sent any kind of word, the messengers disappeared, never to be seen again, or their memories of us completely disappeared. It was a fucking nightmare. And for one hundred years, our kind were magically trapped until the curse was finally broken. Although the timing of that didn't quite end up the same for all of us." Isaac sounded sad and I didn't know whether to ask the million questions I had or let it go for now.

"How did the curse get broken?" This kind of thing I wasn't completely in the dark about. My mother loved this kind of history and in all her practices she read everything she could about curses and other types of spells that could banish or hide. In hindsight now I could see why.

"That would be all thanks to my mate." He kissed Kitra on her cheek. "She is the most powerful witch of any realm."

My eyes widened at that little golden nugget of knowledge. She seemed so...young.

"I didn't do it on my own. Without your help, I wouldn't have the power of my mother and her ancestors."

My head was starting to really pound now. I needed to sit down. I was beginning to wonder if there was a limit to the amount of information I could take in in such a short time.

"Magnus. Get some water. She's starting to look a little green."

"I'm—" Before I could finish that statement I swayed on my feet.

"Mating heat again?"

Kitra shook her head. "I don't think so." She came over to me and laid both of her hands on my heated cheeks. "She's burning up." She didn't let go and everyone stood with bated breath waiting for her to say something else. Her eyes turned almost black, and I had to force myself to stand still. Her power scared me. Finally, she dropped her arms and turned to face the men.

"It's the spell. It's unraveling quick and bleeding magic into her system. I don't think she's going to last much longer."

"Excuse me?"

Magnus stepped forward and wrapped me into his arms. "There was more than one reason why we came here."

I pushed myself free of his arms. They were too strong and comfortable and making it all too hard to think straight.

"And what exactly does that mean? You tricked me?"

He shook his head. "No trick. But the more information we doled out, the more upset you got and the more upset you got, the less chance we had of making it here in time."

"In time for what?" I was not liking the way this sounded, even if on some level their reasoning was sound, even logical. Something I could appreciate.

"Before this spell unravels and your real self breaks free, you have to make a choice," Kitra said, stepping up to Magnus's side.

"A choice? Godsdammit, I knew I wasn't going to like this."

"If that spell breaks free while you are in this realm, it would spell disaster for all the humans here. Like your parents said, it would serve as a beacon for the fae. Normally, no one is getting through that portal without the amulet of Vostuzan and the magic it contained. But since that amulet no longer exists and all its magic is now mine, that portal is locked up unless I open it, or someone finds another way in.”

My eyes widened. That sounded like an incredible amount of power for one person and for one so young in particular.

"I know. It sounds crazy. But that's the burden I took on to help Isaac return home and break the curse on the dragons. All dragons may not be innocent in how they've dealt with the witches of this realm,"—she gave Isaac a pointed look—"but neither do they all deserve to have their freedom taken away."

On that I could agree. When people decided to blame a whole race of people because of the infractions of a small segment, that is where the world went to crap. Every. Single. Time.

"But what does this have to do with me? If the portal is locked, how are the fae kings going to come here?"

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