Page 33 of Jace

So she didn’t know. If she did, he would have seen one of those pretty blushes.

“Dragons are very much like the creatures on Old Terra known as dinosaurs,” he said, trying to approach things in a way she might relate to.

“Okay,” she said.

“And Old Terra’s birds evolved from dinosaurs,” he went on. “Are there birds on your Terra?”

She nodded.

“What do you know about birds?” he asked her. “About their families?”

She frowned in thought.

“You mean like everything I know?” she asked after a moment.

“About the life of a bird,” he said. “Yes.”

It was a roundabout way of getting to his point, but he hoped it would help her to understand if he connected it to her own experience.

“Well,” she said with a dubious expression. “I know they are hatched from eggs. The mother sits on the nest.”

“And what does the father do?” he asked gently.

“The father brings back food for her,” she said. “And for the babies after they hatch.

“Yes,” he said.

“And the birds change homes each year if the climate changes,” she said, gaining confidence. “But they always come back to nest in the same place, sometimes generations of birds do that. From one hemisphere to another and back to the same tree, without digital navigation.”

“Very true,” he said, smiling. “And what about their mate bonds?”

“Birds mate for life,” she said firmly.

“So do dragons,” he told her.

For a moment, the little cabin was silent as he let her soak it in.

“Susannah, only the luckiest of dragons finds his true mate,” he said softly. “And once he does, he will never lie with another.”

Her beautiful green eyes met his, and there was something like a flash of recognition in them before she tore her gaze away.

“I see. One day, you may meet your true mate,” she said, nodding as if something was coming together for her. “You do not wish to involve yourself romantically with another before that happens.”

“I have already met my true mate, Susannah,” he told her gently.

“Where is she?” she asked in horror. “Did they make you leave her behind for twenty years?”

“No,” he said, momentarily thrown off by how badly she was misunderstanding him. “No, of course not. Such a thing would be unheard of.”

“What are you saying?” Susannah asked.

“I did not wish to alarm you,” he told her. “I wanted to approach the conversation carefully. But I see it would be better to tell you directly.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, waiting.

“Susannah, you are my mate,” he said simply.

Her eyes widened slightly, but she did not seem as surprised as he might have expected.

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