Page 10 of Dragon Revealed (Dragon Kings 1)
Instead of answering, Jeyra jumped to her feet and began to pace. He watched her closely, his mind sorting through everything she had told him to see if she had let something slip that he hadn’t realized when she first said it. He waited with bated breath for her to give him something, anything. Because if there was even the slightest chance that there were other dragons—or even the twins—on this realm, then he might be able to contact them through the mental link so they could help him.
Jeyra suddenly halted and whirled to face him. “A few moments ago, you were sure there were no other Dragon Kings but the ones on your realm. What made you say that?”
“I told you how the Dragon Kings are chosen. It’s no’ an easy process.”
“None of you ever left your realm?”
“There wasna a need.” Varek had a feeling he knew what her next question would be.
Jeyra walked a few steps closer to him. “What about visitors? Did you have any?”
Just as he expected. He sat back on his haunches. “We did.”
“Who?” she pressed.
Varek ran a hand down his face and sat once more. He scratched at the corner of his eye and condensed the very long tale. “Since the beginning of our world, it was only dragons and other animals. One day, humans arrived. They were defenseless and without magic. We Kings approached them, and the magic of the realm allowed us to shift into this form so we could communicate with them. We then vowed to protect them.”
“Somehow, I don’t see that working,” she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“It worked. For a while. Then little things happened. Sometimes it was a dragon eating the herd of a human or even a human.”
“I knew it,” Jeyra interjected, disdain dripping from her words.
“Other times, it was the humans hunting the smaller dragons to extinction.”
At that, Jeyra cocked her head. “I think it’s a fair trade.”
“Do you?” Varek asked. “One human is worth an entire clan of dragons? The Pinks were no bigger than a small dog. You think it was right for the mortals to slaughter each and every one of them?”
Her chest expanded as she breathed in deeply. “No, I suppose not. Why didn’t any of you help?”
“Our realm is a large place, and each clan had a section to itself. There were dragons of all sizes. Some as small as the Pinks, some bigger than you can imagine.”
“Oh, I know how big they can get.”
Varek didn’t push her to say more. The tidbits he was getting showed that she had a particular hatred for dragons, and he feared that they had somehow harmed her or someone she knew. “The point, lass, is that by the time the King of Pinks realized what was going on and sent out a message to the other Dragon Kings, it was too late.”
“Is this where you wiped out all the mortals?” she scornfully asked.
He shook his head. “We managed to come to a truce. It wasna until one of the Dragon Kings decided to take a human as his mate that things went to hell. She planned to try and murder him on their wedding night. And before you say that she feared for her life, you should know that the Dragon King she spent years living with is one of the best I know. He was kind and loving, and he offered her everything because he loved her. Instead, she allowed herself to be manipulated by others who hated us.”
Jeyra’s gaze was riveted on him. She asked in a soft voice, “What happened?”
“We knew if Ulrik discovered what she was going to do, it would destroy him. So, we Kings tracked her down.”
“You killed her.”
Varek wanted to deny it, but he didn’t. “It’s easy for you to stand there and judge me for what occurred, but you were no’ there. You can no’ know everything. Aye, we killed her in order to stop the war that she wanted to start by murdering Ulrik.”
“Did you stop it?” Jeyra asked.
He looked away and sighed. “When Ulrik found out what his future mate had planned, he was furious. He took his Silvers and began attacking mortals.”
“So, you did kill them. Just as I expected,” Jeyra stated indignantly.
Varek swung his head to her, his hands clenched in fury. “Many of us set up our dragons around mortal villages to protect them from Ulrik and his Silvers, but do you know what the humans did? They killed those dragons. No’ once did any of the dragons even attempt to defend themselves or flee because we Kings had ordered them to protect the mortals. Doona lecture me on the right and wrong of things because you know verra little of what I’ve endured or had to witness happening to my clan.”
He took a couple of calming breaths before he could continue. “The war raged, and we knew that it had to be stopped. Nothing could allow the mortals and dragons to live together. There was only one thing to do. The Kings gathered together and used our magic to open a dragon bridge to another realm. We sent our dragons away hoping they would find a place where they could live free. Once they were gone, we Kings retreated to our land, used magic to ensure that no human would cross the border, and slept away centuries, waiting for the time they would eventually forget about us. When we finally ventured out, we hid our true selves. It’s how it has been for eons.”
“What of your dragons? You never brought them home?”
Varek shot her a droll look. “How could we? Our two species couldna live together on a planet that had room enough for both of us. With the dragons gone, the mortals reproduced at a shocking rate, taking more and more land. We kept hoping we would find our dragons again and bring them home, but we all know that isna possible now.”
Jeyra dropped her arms as she sank to the ground. “You never went looking for them, did you?”
“We’re lost without them, but a part of us knew if we went looking and discovered they had perished, we wouldna survive. If we found them, we would either want to bring them home or go to them.”
“Why couldn’t you go to them?” she asked.
“Earth is our realm. It was our home. Is our home. Why should we have to leave it?”
“To be with your dragons.”
He blew out a breath as he nodded. “Aye. That might have been easy before many of the Kings took mortals as their mates.”
“You keep saying ‘mortals.’ And you mentioned eons. Are you telling me you’re immortal?”
Varek shot her a crooked grin. “The only thing that can kill a Dragon King is another Dragon King.”
Her eyes bugged out in shock. “What? But…wait…you said that woman was going to kill a Dragon King.”
“I said she planned to try. She wasna aware that Ulrik was immortal and that she wouldna have been able to do any damage.”
Jeyra dropped her head back to gaze at the ceiling. Then she looked at Varek. “You say you’re immortal, but are you still?”
“Why wouldna I be?”
She jerked her chin to the dried blood on his shirt. “You’ve not healed, and I have a feeling that if you’re immortal, you wouldn’t have wounds for long. What about your magic? Have you ever been without it?”
“I’ve no’.” And he didn’t like being reminded of that.
“I’m leaning toward you being mortal now. Which means, you can be killed.”
Now he understood. “That’s what you want with me. You want to kill me for something that was done. If you think you’ll get justice or whatever it is you’re looking for by doing that, it’ll be short-lived. My brethren will look for me, and we’ve some verra powerful friends. When they find me—and they will find me—and discover what you’ve done, there willna be anywhere you can hide.”
A smile pulled at her lips. “They’ll never find you.”
