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

“Oh. All right.” She leaned back and positioned her head on the pillow.

“Just relax. Close your eyes.” Raven lifted the fairy’s right foot and concentrated. The chance that Aborella would plant a curse in one of her feet was slim, but considering Dianthe was a seer and a fairy, she wasn’t sure if this sort of magical probing would be uncomfortable for her. Raven was diving deep, examining her blood and her bones, sending her magic hunting through her flesh. It didn’t seem prudent to start with what was probably the seat of her own magic, her head.

“It feels cold.” Dianthe shivered. “Like ribbons braiding themselves inside my leg.”

“A curse is cold,” Raven explained. “My magic has to look like a curse to find one.” She set Dianthe’s right leg down and picked up her left. “I’ve gotten better at this over time. If there’s something in you, I’ll find it.”

“Nothing yet?”

Raven smiled. “Nothing yet.” She set down her other foot and slid her hands along her legs to her abdomen. “You have a powerful gut,” she said through a smile. She pressed her hand over her belly button. “You have power centered here.”

“I’ve always had strong intuition.”

“I can feel it.” Raven moved to her lungs and her chest. “Strong heart. You’re a good person. I feel light and warmth. No wonder you wanted to help her. You actually believed you could save her.”

Dianthe sucked in a sip of air. It took a second, but Raven realized what she’d done. Dianthe had thought she could save Aborella. She’d felt it in her bones. And the way Raven had just said those words implied she was stupid for doing so.

“I’m sorry about my tone.” Raven moved her hands down her right arm. “You have to understand that Aborella has been a scourge to our family. She’s the reason Marius is dead. She used my sister and tried to murder my other sister, took my power, and left me to rot in the dungeon. She’s helped Eleanor perform every evil deed. It’s hard to believe anyone would actually want to save her. If I had found her buried in a hole, I would have cut off her head and left her there.”

Dianthe’s eyes met hers, but she didn’t flinch at the comment. Raven moved to her left arm and then to her golden gossamer wings, which peeked out from under her shoulders.

“Aborella was abused as a child,” Dianthe whispered. “My late aunt told me stories that her mother would withhold food as a punishment, sometimes for days. Aborella was my aunt’s age, and she’d come to school filthy and hungry. Unfortunately, fairies are not always compassionate toward one another. They treated her worse than a rat. All that negative energy, it ignited her magic. She saved herself from the squalor and the bullying, but it did something to her soul. I just thought I could make it right somehow.”

The compassion in Dianthe’s voice cut to Raven’s soul. She’d never thought of Aborella as anything but evil, a nemesis to be destroyed. It was unsettling to know she was something else, something before. Emotions swirled within her. She could not bring herself to feel sorry for Aborella, but she did understand Dianthe’s compassion.

“That was kind of you.” She moved her hand’s to Dianthe’s head. This was where her power was strongest. Raven’s magic sifted through her mind, her skull, her second sight that glowed like a beacon within her. The soft warm glow of her power couldn’t be mistaken for a curse.

“Believe it or not, by the end, after I’d healed her, I thought Aborella was my friend. What happened in Everfield felt like a betrayal. It hurt me. She hurt me. More than just the loss of my homeland. It hurts to be wrong about her.”

Raven removed her hands and straightened beside the bed.

“What is it?” Dianthe asked. “What did you see?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Cheerfully, Raven held out a hand and helped her sit up. “You are not cursed, Dianthe. Aborella might be the reason Eleanor attacked Everfield, but she did not leave any malignant magic on your person.”

A rustle sounded at the mouth of the tent. Sylas stood in the doorway. “Did I hear you say she isn’t cursed?”

Raven spread her hands. “To the extent of my knowledge and power—which is extensive—your mate is completely free of curses or ill-intentioned spells.”

“What about her visions?” Sylas asked. “If she’s not cursed, why did her second sight fail Everfield? She didn’t see the attack until it was upon us.”

All the joy poured out of Dianthe in a rush. Raven watched her curl in on herself, and Dianthe’s words came back to her. He doesn’t trust me. Raven felt a tide of anger flood her at Sylas’s insensitivity. This should be a happy moment. Instead, he was still searching for a way to place blame on his mate.

Raven’s hands came to rest on her hips. “I’m sure I don’t know, Sylas. I am not a fairy, and I’ve never had the gift of second sight. But I will tell you as a witch that any spell can fail under the right circumstances. It’s really no reason to judge someone’s future abilities or to treat them like a bomb ready to go off.”

The man gaped at her as if she were insane. Dragons! Raven nudged past him and strode toward her own tent, leaving the couple’s problems behind her.

Chapter Eight

“What was that all about?” Sylas asked her, looking completely gobsmacked at the tent door.

“You heard what Raven said, and she’s right. You’ve treated me like I’m a spy for Paragon since the moment Everfield was attacked.” Dianthe stood, bolstered by Raven’s indignation on her behalf. “You owe me an apology.”

Sylas shook his head dismissively. “I’m not going to apologize for a logical assumption that even you must admit was perfectly reasonable given our circumstances.”

Emotionally raw, she crossed her arms against his words. Each one was salt in her wound.