Hidden Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon Book 7) by Genevieve Jack (best book club books .txt) 📕

“The symbols have stopped moving, but I don’t know this language,” Avery said.

Leena tipped her head and studied the revealed symbols. “I don’t either. It’s not Elvish. I can’t—”

“Oh!” Avery yanked her hand back as if the scroll had burned her fingers.

“Avery?” Clarissa caught her sister as she collapsed, her eyes rolling back in her head.

Xavier rushed in and collected her sagging body in his arms. “Whit in God’s name didya do to her?” Xavier ground out, a growl rising in his throat.

Raven cradled her sister’s face. “She’s drained. It’s okay, Xavier. She’ll be fine. She just overused her magic.”

Avery blinked awake and brought a hand to her head. “Mother of mercy, that kicked my ass.”

The others grumbled their relief.

“It’s late,” Sylas announced, his thoughts going to Dianthe. “Everyone break. We’ll give it another go tomorrow. Avery needs to rest, and I need to… think.”

The group exchanged good nights and began parting ways for the evening.

Sylas hooked his arm into Raven’s. “Would you help me with something? It’s about Dianthe.”

Raven’s gaze darted to the door where Gabriel and Charlie were headed out into the night. “Tonight?” She frowned. “She’s the one with the curse, isn’t she?”

He nodded. “Please. She’s in our tent. We need your help.”

Thank the Mountain she agreed.

Chapter Seven

All Raven wanted to do was sleep for a week. After fighting off the tentacled monster, having her boat destroyed from underneath her, swimming to shore, and enduring a battle between her husband and his wicked mother, all with a baby on her hip, she was bone weary. It felt as though someone had replaced her blood with liquid concrete.

And that wasn’t even taking into account the stress of what she had learned tonight. It appeared that the three sisters would play a major role in solving the puzzle that was these orbs. Judging by what happened to Avery, it would not be easy. If she could just have a few moments of quiet to concentrate, she was sure she could come up with a plan to logically address the issue.

But this was important to Sylas. While Raven could put him off, the dragon had once helped her during a dark and difficult time in her life. Clearly, for him to beg for her help, he needed this to happen sooner rather than later. She took a deep, cleansing breath outside Sylas and Dianthe’s tent.

“Knock, knock,” she called. “Dianthe? Are you in there?”

The flap to the tent opened an inch. “Raven?”

Raven frowned at the broken sound of her name. Dianthe had obviously been crying. Whatever was going on with her, it must be painful, but then if Sylas assumed she was cursed, of course it was. She chided herself for her previously selfish thoughts and stepped inside.

“Sylas sent me. Let’s check you out. I’m sure that together we can solve whatever is ailing you.” Her heart broke at the sight of the fairy, sitting hunched on the side of the bed.

Dianthe held a wadded handkerchief in one hand and gazed up at her as she entered the room. “Thanks for coming.”

“So why do you think you’re cursed?”

Dianthe groaned. “I don’t! Sylas is convinced I am.”

“Why would he think you’re cursed if you’re not having any symptoms?” Raven was more confused than ever.

“Because before Everfield was attacked this morning, I helped heal Aborella.”

All the air blew from Raven’s lungs, and she gripped her stomach. Had she heard correctly? “Why in the name of the Mountain would you heal Aborella?” Raven couldn’t stop her voice from taking on a harsh, judgmental tone. “Do you know what she did to me? To my sisters? She tried to kill us.”

Dianthe dabbed under her eyes, her tears increasing at Raven’s obvious anger. Raven hadn’t wanted to make her cry, but hell if she could understand why anyone in the rebellion would help that wicked fairy.

“She was close to death. Eleanor had tortured her and then buried her alive. I had a vision that if I healed her, I could turn her to our side. Specifically, I saw her battling Eleanor on our behalf. Up until recently, my visions were always reliable, Raven. There have been times I’ve misinterpreted a vision, but I can’t ever remember being wrong.”

“But this time you were.” Raven’s heart broke for her. She’d gambled her life to take a risk on a horribly evil fairy, and it had gone wrong. “Did Aborella give you anything? Jewelry? An orb of any kind?”

“No.” Dianthe shook her head. “She had nothing. We’d dug her out of an unmarked grave. She didn’t even have her own limbs.”

“What about food… Did she make you anything to eat or drink?”

Dianthe frowned. “We made a batch of cookies together, but I didn’t actually eat any.”

“Good.” Raven sighed. It would be easy to judge her. Aborella had compelled her father using milkwood root and Avery using an enchanted orb necklace. The fairy had also leveled a curse on her sister that had almost crushed her skull. Raven’s list of grievances against the fairy was long. But she also had a healthy understanding of magic in all its forms. When practiced regularly, it became a part of you. There had been many times that Raven’s magic had guided her in directions that Gabriel hadn’t approved of. Could she blame Dianthe for trusting her own second sight about this?

“There’s only one thing to do,” Raven said. “I need to touch you. If she did curse you, I’ll be able to feel it, and if I can discern the nature of the curse, there’s a very good chance that my sisters and I can break it.”

Dianthe released a held breath. “Thank you. I can’t stand another day of this. Sylas looks at me like… like he blames me. Like he doesn’t trust me. Not just the curse but me.”

All the magic in the world couldn’t cure that kind of hurt, but Raven would do what she could. “If you don’t mind lying down on the bed, I’ll