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“Of course, Sybil,” Sofia agreed as she gave a nod. “I will be there shortly.” Sybil bowed her head and disappeared, closing the door behind her. Sofia sighed as she picked up the book and strolled over to the small table where she tucked the tome back into its hiding spot. “It appears my duties call to me.”
“We had our own chores to attend to,” Ben told her as he stood, and I followed suit.
Sofia turned around and smiled at us both. “It was lovely seeing you. Both of you.” She strode over to me and clasped my hands in hers before she looked me in the eyes. “I hope your stay here in our world will be filled with nothing but joy.”
I suppressed a snort as I thought back to my first eventful week. “It’s definitely been memorable.”
“Only the best for my guest,” Ben teased.
Her eyes twinkled as she led us out of the room and back to the nave. “You must come to see me again soon. I enjoyed our time together very much.”
Ben and I turned to stand side by side and face her. “We’ll be sure to visit soon.” He leaned down and pecked a light kiss on her cheek. “Goodbye, Mother.”
She cupped his cheeks in her hands and smiled up at him. “Keep yourself safe, my little one.”
And with that, we made our exit.
CHAPTERFIVE
“You’remom’s a special kind of person, isn’t she?” I spoke up as we made our way down the stony path to the carriage.
A crooked smile appeared on Ben’s lips as he stared ahead. “Very much so, but I am slightly biased in that regard.” He dropped his gaze to me and studied my face. “What did you think of her?”
I laughed. “I thought that she was definitely your mom.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
I cast a wicked look at him. “How the poor woman must have suffered while you were growing up.”
His good humor faltered slightly and he turned his face away from me. “Far too much. . .”
I winced. Me and my big mouth. “I didn’t mean it that way-”
He shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize. It’s difficult to understand the circumstances of my affliction when you have such little experience with magic. Even the magician doctors were unable to completely stem the flow of my powers.”
“I got the feeling you and your mom have different opinions on how bad it became,” I mused as I looked him over. I could only imagine how much of his body was covered in those black markings. “How baddidit get?”
He pursed his lips as we reached the carriage. “To be honest, the truth lies somewhere in the middle,” he told me as he helped me into the carriage and climbed in behind me. “The Dragon Hex has its dangers and its benefits, and the victor between them is decided by the resolve of the person who has the hex.”
I leaned forward to catch his eye and lifted an eyebrow. “So what exactly is this hex?”
A great sigh escaped him. “It’s a forbidden spell created in a desperate time. One of my ancestors on my mother’s side was the author, and he crafted the spell when the city was in a dire siege by the pirates from the south. The citizens were on the verge of starvation or capitulation.” We rolled through the streets and he nodded at a few ancient stone walls. “Some of the defenses from that horrible time still stand, and there are many more along the coast that are still maintained by the emperor to prevent another such attack.”
“So how does a bunch of dragon blood come into this?” I asked him.
“Dragons are an extinct creature, but when they roamed the land their blood was used by warriors to enhance their physical prowess,” he explained as he leaned back and a contemplative expression appeared on his face. “If ingested in high enough quantities, however, a human would be transformed into a hideous hybrid. A creature without soul and who would turn on kith and kin.”
Some of the color drained from my face. “How much is too much?”
“A mere droplet is all one man needs for a year. Two would change him.”
My breath caught in my throat, but I had to know. “How. . .how much did your mom give you?”
He pursed his lips. “The Dragon Hex involves giving a cupful.”
My jaw dropped open. “But how. . .what-” I shook off my shock and blinked up at him. “How are you not a raging monster?”
“The hex’s purpose was to create a soldier capable of breaking the siege lines without destroying the city’s own defenses,” he explained as he clasped his hands together in his lap. “My ancestor thus combined the blood with a myriad of binding runes, some of which are lost to time except for their being tucked into the incantations of the hex. It was to this spell that my desperate mother turned, and you have seen the results yourself.”
