Page 8 of Dragon Revealed (Dragon Kings 1)
“A sandwich?” Varek’s voice asked from the darkness.
She frowned as she looked at her food. “Call it whatever you want. It’s amazing.”
“Is this your attempt to poison me?”
Jeyra stopped chewing to look in the direction his voice had come from. “If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have made it to the cell. I’ve no need to poison you.”
A moment later, she heard the rustling of the wrapper around the sandwich—as he’d called it. Neither spoke as they ate. It allowed her to not only enjoy her food but also get accustomed to being near a Dragon King. For all her bluster, she was terrified of him. She knew how powerful a being he was.
After she’d finished her meal and wadded up the paper, the jug of ale came sailing through the bars, somehow missing them entirely to land right in front of her. Without hesitation, she uncorked the bottle and took a long drink.
“The meal was verra good,” Varek admitted. “Thank you.”
His words so surprised her that she began choking on the ale. She coughed as she corked the jug and tossed it back toward him. Once she’d finished coughing, she cleared her throat so she could speak.
“You’re welcome.” Jeyra cleared her throat again. “You’re right. You aren’t on your realm anymore. You’re on Zora in the city of Orgate.”
“How did I get here?”
His soft voice didn’t fool her, and she wasn’t ready to tell him the whole truth. If he learned that she was responsible for bringing him here, he might refuse to speak to her at all. Then how would she carry out the council’s demand? It wasn’t as if she could tell them the truth either.
“A portal opened between our worlds. You were captured that way.”
He paused briefly before he asked, “There is magic on this realm?”
“Yes. Though not within our city or even any of the cities where my kind reside.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“A border keeps us away from…others.”
“And these others have magic?” he asked.
Jeyra swallowed. “They do.”
“Are you telling me that one of those others came to your city and just happened to open a portal directly to me?”
His voice was filled with suspicion and doubt, telling her that he was smarter than she gave him credit for. She needed to remember that. “Not exactly.”
“Then how, exactly?” he asked as his face suddenly came out of the darkness.
A shiver went through Jeyra when she stared into his magnetic brown eyes. She hesitated, unsure what to say that wouldn’t incriminate her.
Varek crawled to the bars before he rose on his knees and wrapped his fingers around the metal. “Someone from here crossed the border.”
It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t treat it as such. Jeyra nodded since her voice wouldn’t work.
“You speak of those who do magic with fear. The border you speak of is to keep your kind separate from those with magic, aye?”
“Yes,” she said, hating that her voice squeaked.
He held her gaze, refusing to let her look away. “Why me?”
“My people searched for a Dragon King.”
“Why?” he pressed.
She licked her lips. “To answer for the crimes committed.”
“No’ by me. As you just stated, I wasna on this realm.”
“You have magic. You could’ve crossed into our realm.”
Varek snorted and sat on the ground. “But I didna.”
“We only have your word.”
“Yet you doona have any evidence that proves it was me either.”
She stiffened. “You don’t know that.”
“Why are you here?” he asked. “You said you want information. Is it perhaps so I’ll incriminate myself? Or give you something to use against me?”
“I don’t know why the council wants you questioned. I’m merely doing as told.”
He made a sound in the back of his throat. “You doona seem the type to blindly follow directions.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, offended that he would think she had some kind of fault.
Varek shrugged and lay back, lacing his hands behind his head. “Just what I said. You’ve the look of someone who decides what rules to follow and which to break. Reminds me of Merrill.”
“Who’s Merrill?” She didn’t want to be intrigued by him, but she was. And she hated it.
Varek blinked up at the ceiling above him. “I suppose you’d call him my best friend. We were sort of drawn to each other. We have a lot in common, but we also differ in several ways. I suppose that’s what makes our friendship so special. He always does what’s right, even if that means breaking the rules.”
“How do you get to be a Dragon King?” she blurted out.
He lifted his head slightly and met her gaze. “I wondered when you would get to that.”
