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recognize
the potential danger, and think that I have fled the city to hide you away.”
    “You never did explain
why he was after me in the first place,” she said pointedly, trying to ignore
the painful way one of the book’s edges was digging into one of her boobs.
    “It’s because of your
blood.”
    Briana stilled. “ What about my blood?”
    “It’s very faint in you,
but I would never in all eternity forget that scent. You share a bloodline with
the witch that exiled me to this world.”

CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    Briana’s first instinct
was to shout out “that’s insane!” The next was to stiffen as she felt a jolt of
very real fear shoot through her body. Was that what this was all about?
Not some old, weird book but trying to find the “witch” that possessed it to
make her pay for what her alleged ancestor did to him?
    “You want revenge.” She
was shocked at how utterly matter-of-fact her tone sounded.
    That giant eye that
filled her vision blinked slowly before he abruptly lowered her back to the
ground and released her onto unsteady legs.
    “That’s not what I want
from you at all.”
    Although every instinct within
was screaming for her to run away, Briana forced herself to remain where she
stood. Taron looked so taken aback by her accusation that she couldn’t believe
that he was lying to her. Who knew that a dragon’s face could be so expressive?
    She took a deep, calming
breath. “Okay.”
    Taron’s gaze sharpened
as she once again lowered herself to sit cross-legged on the ground.
    After a tense moment of
silently staring at one another, Briana finally said, “Not that I’m ready to
accept just yet that one of my ancestors was a real, spell-using witch from
another world, but even if that’s true, how does dropping that bombshell on me
help you in any way? Because I can tell you right now that I don’t have
anything even remotely resembling a witchy power.”
    “As I said before, the
answer to that question remains to be seen. All I ask right this moment is for
you to hear me out. Then once I explain my situation, we will open Beatrice’s
book to the drawing of the key and see what the Fates have in store for both of
us.”
    Briana suddenly had a
strong urge to fling the book away. “What exactly do you think’s going to
happen?”
    “What I ‘hope’ will happen,”
he corrected. “I hunted that book for nearly two centuries for the information
that it contained. I even infiltrated the Hildebrand family and offered to aid
them in their search for their lost heirloom. It was fitting, really, given
that their surname is derived from words meaning fire, battle,
strife, and sword . I never thought it would lead me to another of the Ansi blood, and make no mistake, you are of that bloodline, no matter how thin that
blood has become within you. It’s likely not a coincidence that your late
grandmother had that book in her possession.”
    “My grandmother wasn’t a
witch, either, if that’s what you’re insinuating. She never would’ve kept
something that important a secret from me.”
    But she didn’t tell
me about this book, did she?
    Pushing that very
uncomfortable thought away for the moment, Briana asked a bit crossly, “What do
you mean, ‘ Ansi ’ blood?”
    “That’s what we call
non-dragon-shifters who can wield magic in my tongue,” Taron replied. “Witch,
mage, magician, wizard, warlock—those are the closest terms you humans have in
this world. It’s all interchangeable.”
    “Did the Hildebrand
family know that you could shift into a dragon?”
    “Of course. How else
would I have been able to explain the fact that I don’t age? We dragons are
essentially immortal as long as we don’t fall victim to violence. We are very
hard to kill, but we still can be killed. I needed them completely in
the know to help me keep my secret from the rest of humanity over the long
centuries, but I’m getting ahead of myself again. You need to understand the
circumstances