Page 12 of Dragon Revealed (Dragon Kings 1)
She barely noticed as her eyes ran over the thick sinew of his shoulders and arms. Varek twisted toward her and raked a hand through his wet locks before wiping a hand down his face to dispel the water.
“Good mornin’,” he said and sat back on a stool.
She frowned at the stool and the bucket of water. Neither had been there the day before. “I see you’ve already had company.”
“Aye,” he replied, not giving her any more.
Jeyra looked around, wondering if someone was in the shadows, watching.
“There isna anyone else here, lass.”
She snapped her head back to him. The retort she had died on her lips when she saw his chiseled abs. He didn’t have an ounce of fat anywhere on him. All the moisture left her mouth, making it impossible to swallow. Then her eyes saw something on his left arm.
Jeyra wanted a closer look. She moved forward before she realized what she was doing and found herself close enough to touch the bars of Varek’s prison. But she didn’t move away as she took in the artwork that covered his arm.
“Is this what has your attention?” he asked with a chuckle and turned so that she could see his arm.
“What is it?”
His brows snapped together. “Do your people no’ have tattoos?”
“Tattoos?” she repeated, testing out the word on her tongue. “No one decorates their body in such a way. Why do you have it?”
He shrugged and glanced down at the dragon. “When we shifted for the first time into this form, each Dragon King found one somewhere on his body. We might have always had them, but we didna see them in our true form. We honestly doona know.”
Unable to help herself, Jeyra moved closer. The dragon appeared to be clinging to Varek’s arm. Its head lay near his wrist, facing him with the neck curled slightly inward. The front and back talons seemed to sink into his upper forearm. The dragon’s wings were tucked against his body while the tail curled around Varek’s upper arm to his shoulder. She couldn’t discern if the color was black or red, and she finally decided that it was a mix of both.
“On Earth, many mortals get tattoos of all kinds, but none has ink the color of a Dragon King’s,” Varek said.
Jeyra looked up and found herself staring into his dark eyes. They pulled her in, just like his voice. She wanted to take a hasty step back to somehow break whatever had ensnared her so, but that would show him that she didn’t want to be close to him. Somehow, she made herself remain where she was. She squatted down and tore the bread in half before handing it to him. She did the same with the cheese, as well as the jerky. She left the jug of milk, leaning against the bars.
“Thank you,” he said as he took the food and began to eat.
She plopped down on the ground, wishing she had a stool. Her stomach growled with hunger as she bit into the smoked cheese. She closed her eyes as she savored the flavor. Only after she had swallowed did she open her eyes—to find Varek watching her with an odd look on his face.
Jeyra hastily lowered her eyes and took a bite of the jerky. Out of her peripheral vision, she noted that Varek didn’t move for several minutes. She didn’t breathe easily until he did. Mainly because his look, one of befuddlement and maybe a hint of longing, confused her. Or perhaps she just thought she saw those emotions. Lack of sleep and hunger always put her in a foul mood. A combination of the two usually meant that everyone should stay out of her way.
“You’ve surprised me.”
Her head swung to him. “How so?”
“You returned yesterday when I was sure you wouldna. And again this morning. You made it verra clear that you doona care for me or my kind,” he said before tearing off a section of bread.
“I don’t.” She wasn’t quite sure why she admitted such a thing to him. Perhaps it was because he had asked for truth yesterday. Come what may, she would give him the truth—or as close to it as she could.
He nodded. “Hmm. You heard my story yesterday. Care to share yours?”
“I doubt I heard your entire story.”
Varek chuckled, the sound shooting straight through her and settling warmly in her lower stomach. She swallowed, glad that he was too preoccupied with his food to notice her reaction. It gave her the few seconds she needed to wipe any emotion from her face. He didn’t need to know that his laugh could rouse such a…reaction…from her. No one could.
“My story would take a lot longer than we have,” he said, glancing at her.
She propped one foot on the ground and rested her arm on her knee. “Tell me more.”
“This is the information you want, aye?”
Jeyra’s gaze lingered on his lips after he took a bite. She watched him chew then swallow, noting the growth of whiskers on his face as well as the muscles in his neck. “It is.”
“And why would I tell you more? Your hatred will cloud anything I say. No’ to mention, you’ve no reason to believe me. I have no proof I can give,” he replied coolly.
Jeyra finished her food and dusted off her hands. “The more you talk, the longer it’ll be before you’re put on trial.”
“A trial that has no’ a single piece of evidence against me.” His gaze narrowed. “I’ve a feeling that isna going to matter, is it? I willna have a fair trial.”
She wasn’t going to get into their justice system or how it worked. “The fact is, you’re behind bars, not any other Dragon King. You’re the one going on trial.”
“Then take me now. I doona see a reason to tell you anything more about me or the Dragon Kings. If there are actual dragons on this realm, then I willna do anything that could bring them harm.”
His statement took her aback. Of all the things she had expected him to say, that wasn’t it. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to prolong the trial.”
“You sound almost upset that I’m willing to die. Is that because you know I’m innocent? Or could it be because you know that my death willna bring you or anyone else the peace you seek?” he asked, his gaze hard and unyielding.
She hated that his words hit too close to home. “You know nothing of our life here.”
“Nay, I doona, because you’ve no’ shared it,” he retorted with as much anger as she had.
This was going nowhere. Jeyra dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes. She was still confused about her reaction to him yesterday, her not giving the council any information on Varek this morning, and then being outraged that he’d rather die than talk to her. It was like everything was backwards.
She could give up now and go to the council and tell them what little information she’d gotten. It wouldn’t be enough, though. They would order her back since no one else was brave enough to talk to Varek. But if they did happen to find someone else, that person would discover that the King wasn’t from this realm, which would then lead to them finding out that she had broken the rules, crossed the border onto the dragon’s land, and used magic to trap Varek. Everything would go downhill from there.
Which left her one option—talk to Varek and give him the story he wanted.
“I never knew my parents. The ones who actually gave me life.” She lifted her head and met Varek’s gaze. “I showed up here as an infant, like everyone else.”
