Page 3 of Hex and the Dragon
Dorian looked at Ivy, and she saw her own mixture of terror and temptation reflected in his eyes. Whatever this thing was, it had chosen them for a reason. And despite every rational thought screaming that they should run, neither of them could deny the seductive pull of its whispered promises.
The Chronicle might be their enemy, but it was also the most dangerous kind of adversary—one that offered them exactly what they'd always wanted, wrapped in a package too beautiful to refuse.
But where they strong enough to say no?
TWO
DORIAN
The silence that followed Nico's warning stretched like a taut wire between them, broken only by the soft whisper of autumn wind through the library's tall windows. Ivy stared at the Chronicle, its scaled cover gleaming innocently in the afternoon light, while her mind raced through possibilities and protocols. There had to be a way to study this thing safely, to understand what they were dealing with before making any rash decisions.
"We need to approach this systematically," she said, moving toward her desk to retrieve a pair of protective gloves and her research notebook. "Document everything the Chronicle reveals, cross-reference it with existing texts about binding magic, establish a timeline of its influence patterns?—"
"Absolutely not." Dorian's voice cut through her planning like a blade, sharp with the kind of authority that came from someone accustomed to life-or-death decisions. "That thing is dangerous. It's already in our heads, and every second we spend near it makes the situation worse."
Ivy turned to face him, her scholarly instincts bristling at his dismissive tone. "You can't just contain something you don't understand. What if closing it makes the problem worse? Whatif there are failsafes built into the binding that we trigger by acting without proper knowledge?"
"What if studying it gives it exactly what it wants?" Dorian countered, stepping closer to her desk with predatory grace. "You heard what Nico said about other communities. People choosing dreams over reality. How many of them do you think started with good intentions to 'research' their way to a solution?"
The Chronicle's pages rustled softly, as if it responded to their argument, and Ivy felt a whisper of satisfaction brush against her consciousness. It was pleased by their conflict, feeding on the tension between them like a parasite drawn to discord.
"Both approaches have merit," Nico interjected before their disagreement could escalate further. "But they're also both irrelevant if we don't address the immediate problem." He gestured toward the Chronicle with carefully controlled movements. "The fragment has bonded with you. It will continue to influence you regardless of whether you choose to study it or try to contain it."
"Bonded how?" Ivy asked, though she suspected she already knew the answer. The ice-cold presence whispering in her mind had been growing stronger since she'd first opened the book, offering tantalizing glimpses of knowledge that lay just beyond her reach.
"The whispers," Dorian said grimly. "They've gotten worse since I walked in here. Louder. More... specific." He ran a hand through his dark hair, leaving it even more disheveled. "It's like having someone else's thoughts mixed in with my own."
Before Nico could respond, the library's front door chimed, followed by the sound of heavy boots on hardwood. Sheriff Leo Maddox's voice carried through the building with the kind ofprofessional calm that suggested he was dealing with yet another supernatural crisis.
"Nico? You in here? I've got reports of some kind of temporal disturbance centered on the library, and given our recent track record with magical emergencies..."
"Back here, Leo," Nico called, though his pale eyes never left the Chronicle. "And bring Aerin if she's with you. We're going to need her expertise."
Leo entered the archive room moments later, his golden-brown hair slightly windswept and his sheriff's uniform crisp despite the late hour. The lion shifter's amber eyes swept over the scene with professional assessment, taking in the scattered books, Ivy's protective stance near her desk, and Dorian's obvious tension.
"Temporal disturbance?" Ivy repeated. "What kind of temporal disturbance?"
"The kind where Mrs. Henderson called to report that her afternoon tea lasted four hours according to her kitchen clock, but felt like twenty minutes," Leo said dryly. "And the Morrison twins' mother is concerned because they went to take a nap two hours ago, but when she checked on them, they insisted they'd only been asleep for five minutes."
Aerin Thorne appeared behind Leo, her silvery hair perfectly arranged despite the urgency of their arrival and her violet eyes sharp with analytical focus. The fae scholar carried a leather satchel that undoubtedly contained whatever research materials she'd deemed relevant to a magical crisis.
"Time dilation around centers of supernatural power," she said without preamble, her gaze immediately fixing on the Chronicle. "Usually indicates reality-warping magic of significant sophistication." She paused, studying the book's scaled binding with academic interest. "That's not from theentity we just dealt with. The magical signature is completely different."
"Because it's not from the entity," Nico confirmed. "It's something else entirely. Something that's been using the entity's chaos as cover for its own agenda."
Aerin moved closer to the Chronicle, her movements careful and deliberate. "May I?" she asked Ivy, gesturing toward the book.
"I wouldn't," Dorian said sharply. "It's already bonded with Ivy and me. Adding a third person to that connection could make things exponentially worse."
"Bonded how?" Leo's voice carried the sharp edge of someone who'd dealt with too many supernatural crises to take magical bonds lightly.
Ivy found herself explaining the Chronicle's behavior, from its initial blank pages to the text that had appeared when Dorian arrived, to the persistent whispers that seemed to grow stronger with each passing moment. As she spoke, she became aware of the presence in her mind growing more insistent, offering glimpses of knowledge that made her pulse quicken with anticipation.
"The fragment feeds on desire," Nico added when she finished. "It identifies what people want most and offers them a perfect version of that desire. For someone like Ivy, who values knowledge above almost everything else..."
"It would offer unlimited access to every secret, every answer, every piece of forbidden lore that's ever existed," Aerin finished with the kind of understanding that came from someone who'd faced similar temptations. "And for a dragon shifter struggling with control issues..."
"Power without consequences," Dorian said bitterly. "Strength without the risk of hurting anyone. The ability to protect instead of destroy."
