Page 22 of Dragon Revealed (Dragon Kings 1)
Chapter Twelve
The longer it took Jeyra to meet his gaze, the more Varek knew her age was something he should’ve asked about much sooner. He had been taking her at face value, and as an immortal—or someone who had been immortal—he knew that was something he should never do.
“What does it matter?” she asked.
Varek remained silent, waiting for her amber eyes to meet his. It took several minutes, but she finally gave in and looked at him. “How old are you?”
“It depends on how you measure time. You might count it differently than we do.”
“Jeyra,” he said, talking over her.
She swallowed. “Two hundred seventy-seven.”
Now, that wasn’t something he’d been prepared to hear. He drew in a breath as he let the news settle. “Does everyone here have such a long life?”
Jeyra pressed her lips together and glanced at her hands folded in her lap. “About half. Some only live to be in their seventies, while others live hundreds of years.”
“The oldest?” he asked.
She thought about that for a moment. “That I can remember? A little over nine hundred.”
“When do you find out how you’ll age?”
“We usually begin to get a sense of things in our early thirties.” She shrugged. “No one knows why some of us live longer than others.”
But Varek did. At least, he thought he might. His thoughts had immediately turned to the Fae, but no Halflings on Earth lived long lives like the Fae. And the Fae he knew lived thousands of years, not hundreds. Could this be some other species he didn’t know about? Or was it something about the realm?
“The attack on your family happened some time ago,” Varek concluded.
Jeyra shrugged. “Yes.”
Varek rubbed his hands up and down his face as he sighed. “Now I understand your need to speak to the man from last night. I still doona think it wise.”
“I need answers, and I’m running out of time.”
That got his attention. “Why do you say that?”
“The reason I was late. The council wants something from you.”
Varek chuckled. “Something other than information?”
“They want to broker a deal of marriage.”
He was so taken aback that he couldn’t respond.
Jeyra shrugged. “It would mean your freedom. They said they’re tired of the constant war. They want peace. If you want my opinion, I think it’s ridiculous.”
“War? You’re at war with the dragons?”
“That might be too harsh of a word. We’re at…odds.”
“Dragons mate for life.”
“You said that.”
He gave a little shake of his head, his mind still trying to grasp what these humans—or whatever they were—wanted from him. “When a King takes a mate, she becomes immortal, as well. The only way she dies is if her dragon is killed.”
“What?” Jeyra asked with wide eyes. “You actually mean they’re immortal? Like you? You’ve lived… How long have you lived?”
Varek leaned forward and braced his forearms on his knees. “Bloody hell. This is a mess. I’ve lived millions of years.”
“More than one million?”
He nodded once.
“Damn. If you had taken a mate, then she would have lived all those years with you, then?”
“Indeed.”
“Do any dragons get it wrong? Do they take the wrong mate?”
“It’s a rare thing. As I said, we tend to know when we’ve found our mates.”
Her brows drew together. “If you say yes to their offer, you’ll be free. The council will release you.”
“But I’ll have to take someone that isna my mate as mine. I’ll be stuck with them forever.”
“So, you can’t set them aside?”
He gave her a dry look. “We mate for life.”
“So you’ve said several times,” she murmured, wrinkling her nose. “Freedom, or you can remain in here.”
He had no intention of remaining in the dungeon. He would get out one way or another, but it wouldn’t be by marrying some female he didn’t know, who wasn’t his mate. Now he knew why they’d given him a shirt and taken off the manacles.
“How was I captured?” he asked.
