Page 48 of Claimed by the Savage Dragons

‘Yes. Somewhere in the far south.’

‘Why did she leave?’

I look up from the book. ‘What do you care?

His shoulders bounce a little. ‘It’s just, if it was a good place… Humans tend to stay put when their lives are good these days, so I wondered if there was a reason she left.’

I shake my head. ‘She never really talked about it. It was before me.’

‘Where is she now? Back in your hometown?’

‘She’s dead.’

‘Right. I’m sorry.’ He looks around the room. ‘Do you want to sit in here and read a while?’

I nod. ‘Is that okay?’

‘Of course.’ He gestures to some upholstered chairs beside a fireplace that looks strangely homey in the middle of the concrete.

Something must show on my face because he smiles. ‘We change things to suit us. The books were getting moldy. A fire dries out the air in here, so it’s lit every few days to keep the damp out.

‘Oh.’

I curl up in one of the chairs and start reading, mostly because reading was my go-to at home to escape reality, and I definitely need that right now. I feel like my life is on a timer and when Tor gets back and they take me to their dragon lair, it’ll zero out.

Brax lights the fire, and soon it's crackling away while we sit together. He reads with me and it's oddly companionable.

‘What about you?’ I ask after a while.

He looks up from what appears to be a gardening book. ‘What about me?’

‘Where did you grow up?’

He stares into the fire for a minute. ‘A place across the world called the UK. Scotland, specifically.’

‘Ah,’ I nod. ‘I’ve seen a globe. It must be amazing to be able to travel that far. I’ve heard stories about when humans were able to move across the world in a few hours. What’s it like there?’

‘It was long ago,’ he murmurs cryptically.

I tilt my head at him. ‘How long?’

‘Hard to say now,’ he mutters with a sigh. ‘At the Fall, it was around seven hundred. So probably about nine-hundred years, now. Give or take.’

I vaguely hear the book that I was reading thud to the floor as I stare, trying to wrap my mind around the bomb he just dropped.

‘You’re…almosta thousandyears old?’ I whisper.

He winces. ‘We’re a…uh…long-lived species.’

‘Fuck. I’m…twenty-five.’

He side-eyes me and laughs.

‘Did you know Tor back then?’ I ask. ‘You seem to be pretty close.’

‘Yes, and Drey. You’ll meet him later today.’

Talk of what happens next makes my stomach roll uncomfortably.