Page 12 of The Dragon Sacrifice

“Right,” Jerrard agreed. “Myself, my brother, Stenton, and my other brother Langdon are dragons, or, rather, dragon princes to be exact.” Jerrard gestured to the ancient painting on the wall.

Seela studied it again. “I thought you’d all gone extinct a century ago.”

“That is what your current human king wants you to think,” Jerrard said. “They did try to kill us all by poisoning our eggs, then sending armies after our nests and flocks. They killed most of the dragons.”

“Brutally,” Stenton added, shaking his head. “Horribly. I’m sure not all humans are so horrible.” Stenton glanced at her, raising a dark blond eyebrow.

Seela winced. “We always heard that dragons were…”

“Savages?” Jerrard asked. “That’s how we’re painted in the histories now. But that’s not our true nature. We don’t eat human babies. We don’t eat humans at all,” he said, popping a raisin in his mouth. “Either way, the humans killed off as many of us as they could. What they didn’t realize was that dragon royalty could not be killed. Our magic was too ancient, too powerful.”

“Pretty excellent characteristic to have hanging around,” Stenton added, smirking. “Magical blood.”

“Yes, magical blood,” Jerrard repeated. “When the human king tried to kill our kind, he realized it was impossible, so he tried to control us instead. His mages attempted to put curses on us. One of them stuck.”

Stenton leaned in. “It’s not all bad. Some of the curses blew those mages into a million wet pieces.” He grinned, showing off white teeth.

Seela’s eyes went wide. “Is that what happened to magic then? They lost it all trying to curse you?”

“In a sense, yes,” Jerrard answered. “There are none left that know the magical ways. The magic isn’t gone. There are just few humans who can wield it.”

“Ah,” Seela said, nodding. “So then, you two are cursed?”

“Yes,” Jerrard answered. “What my brother was mentioning earlier is that we are now only allowed to transform into our dragon selves once a year and for a very short amount of time.”

“And Jerrard used his up saving you.” Stenton gave his brother another of his admonishing glares. When he noticed Seela’s frown, he waved his hands in surrender. “Not that you weren’t worth it, I’m sure.”

“What of that… creature that tried to attack us in the caves? It wasn’t a dragon. What is that?” she asked.

Stenton leaned back in his chair as he and his brother shared a glance. “When the mages trapped us, they were unable to trap our father, the dragon king. He is still free, though we haven’t seen him in a hundred years. The human kings realized that keeping us underground was not enough. They wanted to continue to try to kill us. They knew the longer we were down here, the weaker our magic would become. The king realized if we were weak enough and could not transform, his beasts could defeat us. It’s taken one hundred years, but they are getting close.”

“Where did those creatures come from?” Seela asked.

“The mages used the last bit of their magic to create them.” Stenton winked. “Kind of them, don’t you think?”

“Monsters,” Jerrard added. “They’re horrendous.”

“But what are they?” Seela asked, shivering as she remembered it sliding up close to her. The smell would never leave her memory.

“They are part spider, part warthog, and part… something else. And they have old magic.” Jerrard darted his eyes to the door as if worried they were out there.

“They are not to be messed with,” Stenton added.

“As our captors, they keep us penned in here year after year. They keep the humans out as well.”

“But what about me?” Seela asked. “You said I was the Sacrifice.”

The two men exchanged a glance.

A voice from the doorway drew their attention. Standing in the arch was the other man she recognized from the painting. The third brother?

The man had short, dark brown hair, so glossy and luxurious Seela had the strong urge to run her fingers through it. Like his brothers, he was tall and broad with royal cheekbones and chin, but his eyes were sapphires, nearly glowing in their brilliance. So handsome she felt drawn in by his gaze.

“What about you?” he repeated in a deep baritone. Coming into the room, he stopped before her, gazing down. “You, Seela, may be the answer to all of our troubles.”

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