Page 31 of Dragon Revealed (Dragon Kings 1)
“What?” he asked with shock.
Jeyra stretched out her legs before her. “Pages are missing. Accounts of that day. Mine, as well as yours. They’re gone. I don’t know what else is missing.”
“Why did you go looking for it?”
She so desperately wanted to tell him everything, to have someone else to discuss things with. But she couldn’t quite manage it. Too much felt…off. Whether it was her fatigue or something she should be worried about, she wasn’t taking any chances. “Talking with the Dragon King drudged up memories. I know my recollection of things, but I wanted to know what everyone else said. I looked for you, and when I couldn’t find you, I went to the archives where I found the pages missing.”
“Pages gone?” he asked in puzzlement.
“I probably wouldn’t have even known if I hadn’t been looking for something specific. The fact that my accounting is gone drew my attention. Upon closer inspection, I saw the pages had been torn out.”
Rankin ran a hand down his face. “Did you tell the council?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
What could she tell him? What should she tell him? Rankin knew much, was connected to many people. It was possible that he could help unravel this. But there was also a chance he was part of it. She couldn’t believe she was even thinking it, but she had to be realistic.
Jeyra decided to go as close to the truth as she could. “I wasn’t sure who I could trust. It’s already odd that the council wanted me to grill the Dragon King instead of forcing an interrogator, despite whatever fear they may have in speaking with the enemy. I feared you might have told them what I did to capture him, and that they were trying to set me up for failure.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Rankin told her with a sad look in his gray eyes. “And it distresses me that you would think that. I took you in, raised you. I might not always agree with your tactics or choices, but I’ve always stood with you.”
“Until I caught the Dragon King.”
Rankin’s gaze slid away for a heartbeat. “I told you I was upset. You know what they’ll do if they find out the means by which you acquired your Dragon King.”
“Don’t call him mine,” she snapped. Even though it sounded so very right to hear it.
He raised a brow in silent question. “I can’t imagine speaking to the dragon has been easy for you. I heard you’ve given the council good information.”
“He hasn’t been forthcoming,” she lied.
“How about I go with you tomorrow? Maybe I’ll be able to get more out of him.”
She smiled, though her stomach dropped like a stone to her feet. “You should know they removed his shackles. They’ve also offered him the option to take a wife from one of our females to form a truce.” When there was no surprise on Rankin’s face, she rolled her eyes. “Of course, you already knew.”
“I was informed when I returned.”
Jeyra crossed her arms over her chest again, once more wary of Rankin. “Did they also tell you that I’ve been followed? Or that I was threatened today while in the training arena surrounded by fellow warriors, and no one did anything?”
Rankin chuckled. “I feel sorry for anyone who would try to threaten you. Did you put them on their arse?”
“Since he came up behind me and put a blade against my spine, no, I didn’t get a chance. That’s when he told me to stop looking into the past or it would cost me my life.”
The smile melted from Rankin’s face, but not enough for her to buy his lies.
“No wonder you’re jumpy. Do you know who the man was?”
“I don’t,” she replied. “What I don’t understand is why my looking into my past is causing such apprehension from some?”
Rankin shrugged nonchalantly. “No doubt someone thinks you’re trying to uncover something they wish to stay private.”
“About my family’s death from a dragon? I find that hard to believe,” she stated.
“We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
She held his gaze, watching him intently. The more Rankin spoke, the more she was sure that he wasn’t someone she could trust. She decided to try to get a simple answer out of him. “Who put up the border between the dragons’ land and ours?”
“Why are you asking about that?” he said and got to his feet.
Jeyra rose with him, stopping him from walking away. “Because I don’t know the answer. And I should. If the border is so important, why don’t I know that information?”
“I don’t know it either. I just like knowing the dragons stay on their side of things.”
They shared a laugh. But inside, Jeyra was dying because she knew Rankin lied.
