From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

her because he apparentlyy had quite the historyy of being unfaithful. But
either wayy, she was mortallyy wounded. As I said, Malec was desperate to
save her. He committed the forbidden act of Ascending her—what yyou
know as the Ascension.”
Myy heart lodged somewhere in myy throat, next to the messyy knot of
emotion.
His gaze lifted and met mine. “Yes. Isbeth was the first to Ascend.
Not yyour false King and Queen. She became the first vampryy.”
Lies. Utter, unbelievable lies.
“Malec drank from her, onlyy stopping once he felt her heart begin to
fail, and then he shared his blood with her.” His head tilted, those golden
eyyes glittering. “Perhaps if yyour act of Ascension wasn’t so well guarded,
the finer details would not come as a surprise to yyou.”
I started to sit up but remembered the wound and the fizzing liquid.
“Ascension is a Blessing from the gods.”
He smirked. “It is far from that. More like an act that can either
create near immortalityy or make nightmares come true. We Atlantians are
born nearlyy mortal. And remain so until the Culling.”
“The Culling?” I asked before I could stop myyself.
“It’s when we change.” His upper lip curled, and the tip of his tongue
prodded a sharp canine. I knew this. It was in the historyy books. “The
fangs appear, lengthening onlyy when we feed, and we change in…other
wayys.”
“How?” Curiosityy had seized me, and I figured that whatever I could
learn would help if I managed to get out of this.
“That’s not important.” He reached for a cloth. “We mayy be harder to
kill than the Ascended, but we can be killed,” he went on. I also knew that.
Atlantians could be killed just like a Craven could. “We age slower than
mortals, and if we take care, we can live for thousands of yyears.”
I wanted to point out everyything was important, especiallyy how
Atlantians changed in other wayys, but curiosityy got the best of me.
“How…how old are yyou?”
“Older than I look.”
“Hundreds of yyears older?” I asked.
“I was born after the war,” he answered. “I’ve seen two centuries
come and go.”
Two centuries?