Page 31 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

Fred waved his hand again. “Everything dies.”

“Especially humans.” My gut tightened painfully as the unbidden image of Ember with her fiery red hair came to mind. But it wasn’t just her. The women she traveled with. The small child.

Nature was a cruel beast.

“You can always buy them a little extra time.” Fred was watching me closely now. The old dragon was testing my patience today. “They shouldn’t be here anyway. It isn’t safe.”

What he was saying was impossible.

I refused to even entertain the idea.

“Why are you so invested in these humans?” I pressed.

It wasn’t like dragons to meddle in their affairs. They weren’t beneath us, and they did outnumber our species ten thousand to one, but we had a rough history between us.

Particularly during the “slaying” years.

Not that I was judging the actions of my parents and uncles. The Middle Ages were one long and bad historical blip for our ancestors. There was a lot of fermented wine and issues with some giants.

But it was best if we kept our worlds separate. The human lifespan was so short—gone in the blink of a dragon’s eye—and favoring one could only lead to heartbreak.

Though with the impending apocalypse, maybe the timeline wouldn’t be as much of an issue.

Agreed.

I ignored his chuff as I poured myself a glass of scotch, needing the burn to get the taste of fear out of my mouth. I shouldn’t care about what would happen to the humans. There was enough to worry about here.

“If you want my advice,” Fred was still talking, “then at least be friendly with the woman. Beauty like that is classic and should be appreciated.”

I smiled at the rim of my glass. “You’re sounding like a creepy old man. Remind me why I keep you around.”

“My advice.” He blinked. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I know why you’re here. It was meant to be a joke.” I sighed.

“Oh, well, another piece of advice for free, brush up on your humor skills. I have a feeling you’ll need more than your brutish charm for that hellcat outside.” Fredrick helped himself to my bottle of scotch, taking it with him as he rolled back to the window. “This is quite the view.”

∞

I slept fitfully, plagued by dreams of magma and fast-moving tectonic plates where human screams and harmonic tremors synchronized like a symphony of destruction.

Groaning, I rolled to my side and pictured Ember’s face scowling at me.

Let’s go.My dragon was alert.

I’d managed to stay away for an entire day, but I did need to leave my house at some point.

The morning sun shone down brightly as I gathered eggs from the coop. Chickens gave me a wide berth, as they always did, and I felt guilty for interrupting their little chatter. But Agatha liked fresh eggs stocked in the kitchen before she started breakfast.

As I ran through my morning chores, my skin itched like my scales were flaking and my abnormally grouchy dragon kept pacing within my mind.

He wasn’t going to let this go until I at least spoke with the woman again.

What was I supposed to say?

The apocalypse is upon us. It’s not safe here. Your best bet is to head south for a while. Maybe Antarctica in a few years, if it still exists, because things are about to get hot.

The morning sun and heat in the greenhouse were a mockery of just how warm things would be without the balance of dragons to absorb Earth’s explosive rage.

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