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Her question piqued my interest. “Yeah, why?”
She folded her arms over her chest as she stared into the fire. “I have met this man before. It was shortly before my attempted kidnapping.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You think he was behind it?”
My hostess shook her head. “I cannot say for certain as Alex never discovered the assailant’s identity nor that of their client, if they were not one and the same. I only recall meeting Mr. Baddock and he was very friendly toward me. I was surprised to find out later that he and Alex were not on good terms due to a very old feud made before I became his bride.”
I scooted a little closer to her. “When was that?”
“About two hundred years ago.”
I stared down at my hands and blinked. “I. . .I can’t imagine living that long.”
Helen set a hand over mine. I looked up to find her smiling down at me. “You needn’t imagine so many years. Merely live in the moment and enjoy your time with your mate.” She stood and took my hand with her. “Now then, let us rejoin our mates downstairs for some much-needed food.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
We satdown at the table with a bowl of soup set before us and I found that Lord Torch had a dark cloud on his brow. The look didn’t go unnoticed by his wife who took a seat beside me. “What is it, Alex?” she asked him as she took her napkin off the table.
“Will related to me what transpired this morning,” Alex replied as he took up his knife and tapped the tip against his plate. “I recognized a name he mentioned.”
“Simon Baddock?” she guessed.
He nodded. “Then you remember him.”
“He is a hard gentleman to forget,” she admitted with a faint smile. “I recall his being very aged three years ago and there were murmurs at the party that he didn’t have long to live.”
“He was already well past his lifespan a half-century ago,” Alex growled.
I lifted an eyebrow. “How old do the snake people live?”
“About five hundred years,” Will told me.
“Baddock himself is over six hundred, and the rumors are he used black arts to extend his life,” Alex added with a look of disgust on his face.
“You shouldn’t use magic like that?” I guessed.
Will shook his head. “The natural span of one’s life is considered sacrosanct. To extend it beyond what nature has designed for you is not only morally repugnant but in many cases it is illegal.”
“As it is in Mirum,” Alex chimed in. “Should one be found out their life is immediately forfeit.”
I furrowed my brow as I thought over what the dragon men had said. “Then this Baddock guy might be trying to extend his life even more by kidnapping dragon brides? Is there magic that would do that?”
“Nothing more than legends,” Alex told us as he set his elbows on the table and entwined his fingers together in front of his face. “Many mortals have sought every part of our bodies in the hopes of discovering the key to our long lives. Nothing has come of it but their efforts ceased only a short century ago. However, I would not doubt the serpent would have ill intent toward us.”
Will leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “Unfortunately, this is all merely conjecture. We will have to investigate the serpent himself to see if he is the culprit.”
“I might venture to guess that the soup will be cold by the time you are done with your conjecturing,” Helen spoke up as she picked up her spoon. “One thinks better on a full stomach.”
My rumbling stomach couldn’t agree more and we dug into the feast. The dragon men, however, weren’t finished with their conjecturing. “You could pay a visit to Baddock’s shop,” Alex suggested. “I would never be welcome, but his hatred of me may not extend to you.”
I cast a curious look at him and Helen noticed. “Could you relate your trouble with Mr. Baddock to us, dearest?”
Alex set his spoon in the bowl and pursed his lips. “If memory serves, it was a squabble over land. I claimed ancestral rights over a lucrative field and he did the same. We decidedour differences through combat. The serpent underestimated my size, quite literally, and I was able to squash him before he could crush me. He did, however, leave his mark.” Alex lifted his left hand and showed off the round scar I had noticed on our first meeting. “The poison in his fangs prevented the wound from healing properly. Lesser beings would have been killed outright.”
Some of the color drained from my face as I stared across the table at Will. He noticed my expression and shook his head. “It won’t come to that.”
Alex’s fingers on his scarred hand twitched before he set them down on the table. “We shall see.”
