Page 64 of Dragon Tempted

Mia hesitated before finally answering. “Yes. That had been my original plan.”

What. The. Actual. Fuck. Veronica hissed.

Sienna shot to her feet, and Ryan took a step closer to her.

Mia held up her hands. “Don’t leave yet. Hear me out.”

Sienna clamped her mouth shut to keep in Veronica’s suggested response.

“The original plan was to meet with Adam and convince him to work with me to get the rest of the storybooks and the Death of Magic painting. A twofer, if you will.”

“What changed?” Sienna asked.

Mia shook her head. “Not what, who.”

Chills rolled down Sienna’s spine. “Lily.”

“Yes. Let’s just say my eyes were opened when I met her. And then my mission to trick Adam became a mission to help him break the curse. Adam made the most sense to reach out to since the storybook talked about the oldest boy having the dragon sentry shield. From all my research over the years, I believe that the sentries are one of the keys to breaking the curse.”

“Except Templars took care of them. St. George and his battle with the dragon, the Crusades. You cast us as the evil ones.”

Mia nodded. “I see that Megan has been hard at work. And you’re smart enough to know that history is written by the victors.”

“Regardless of the twisted history, the sentries are gone.”

“The oracles were thought to be gone as well.”

Sienna’s heart tap danced in her chest. “Are you saying you think that sentries will be born to the dragon clans?” They didn’t have decades to wait for their children to grow into warriors.

“I’m not saying that. But the sentry shield in the first storybook has to mean something. But without the rest of the story—”

“We don’t know for sure. And you hoped Adam had the rest of the story, but then we all thought he’d died.”

“At that point I was on my own.”

“Except he didn’t die,” Sienna pushed. “The witch you worked with blasted him with a spell that took his memories.”

Mia scowled. “That witch was working with the Wallace clan, not me.”

“How did you get involved in all this, Mia? Why destroy what you spent your life preserving and teaching?”

“Perspective is everything, isn’t it? How your truth is built to send you down a certain path.”

Sienna clenched her fists again. “Enough with the cryptic answers, Mia! Are you really trying to break the curse or not?”

“This version of Mia is trying to break the curse.”

Sienna crossed her arms. “Should I be worried about another version of you taking over?”

Mia’s lips actually turned up into a ghost of a smile. “No. This one is here to stay. Will you work with me?”

“Can I trust you?” Sienna countered.

“And if I say yes, would you believe me?” Mia rested her hands on the podium as if she were teaching a class. “You’re asking the wrong question.”

Sienna’s head started throbbing. “What did Lily do to open your eyes?”

Mia smiled. “Right question. She showed me the truth about the Templars.”