Page 16 of Scaled Hearts

“Love. That is foolish, little one,” I scoff. “Love is weakness.”

“No it isn’t. You just don’t understand love.” She glares at me and I throw my head back, laughing at her once more. Humans say such silly things.

“I understand love,” I sit up on my haunches. “I love treasure. I love my favorite snack, fresh hoqinflesh. And do you know what I love most?” I carefully make my way forward, pinning her with my gaze as she steps back unconsciously.

“No,” she says, wrapping her arms close to her body. She’s trembling.

“What I love most is tormenting, then slaying, the foolish thieves who encroach on my cave,” I say, giving her a wide, toothy grin.

She gulps audibly, then squares her shoulders. “Well I love my sister more than I couldeverlove money. Or food. Or even life itself!” she shouts. “Real love means putting others first, above yourself. You wouldn’t understand that. You’ve never put anyone above yourself!”

“You know nothing about me!” I yell, sending out a blast of flames. She jumps away. “You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed in my life!”

She manages to skirt behind a table, away from my flames. “I don’t need to know. You’re selfish. You said it yourself.”

She’s not wrong. Why then do her words prickle at my skin? Why am I bothering to entertain this tiny, useless creature? I huff, staring at her. “And? Is selfishness not beneficial, in the end? Is it not better to ensure the survival of the community by casting out the sick and weak?”

“That’s absurd,” Kelly protests. “Only by saving those weaker than us can we truly thrive and survive. Otherwise it’s a race to the finish line with no one left!”

“Perhaps it’s for the best, if the community can’t keep up!” I shoot back. “Only the strongest should remain.”

“So you would just let the community die out? I don’t understand your logic.” Kelly crosses her arms, giving me a look.

“What do I care for community?” I ask, voice gruff. “I am a solitary creature. I have no need for community. If I were to get sick and die, it would neither benefit, nor hurt the other dragons. Doubtful they would even notice I was gone.”

Kelly shook her head, letting out an odd little noise. “What?” I demand.

“It’s just sad,” she said. “You have no sense of community, of family. You don’t know what it’s like to care for someone, or to have them care for you. I find it all very sad.”

“You can’t place your human values on dragonkind,” I say. “It might be sad for you but it’s a way of life for us.”

“Still. It must be very lonely,” she sighs. I can’t stand the way she looks at me. It’s like she sees me as a lost pet. I’m not some poor creature to be pitied, I’m a powerful dragon. She has no idea what I’m capable of.

She hums in the silence and I study her further. Her attitude is abhorrent but she’s not entirely wrong. I have missed having interesting company lately. The last explorer who came here was many decades ago.

The girl is interesting enough to keep as a pet but also irritating. She’s confusing and I hate dealing with things that confuse me. Normally I just kill them.

“So...” she looks up at me. “Will you consider our deal?”

Oh right. Her deal. The one where she offered to let me eat her in exchange for curing her sister. While interesting, it places far more weight on my side than hers. She will make a tasty snack but hardly worth going through the trouble of tracking down and finding a cure for some stranger.

“I have to think it over,” I rumble, settling down once more. Kelly sits at the wooden table, drumming her fingers on top while I think.

“Could you not do that? It’s distracting,” I grumble.

“I just don’t understand what the hold up is,” she says. “I’m offering you myself, on a silver platter. All you have to do is save one measly human.”

“Yes, and it might end up being more effort than it’s worth,” I point out. “You’re plenty of trouble already.”

She quiets down, crossing her arms and looking away. I huff and roll my eyes.

“I don’t make decisions like this lightly,” I say. “So just sit there like a good girl and let me think in peace.”

This is why I was awoken in the first place, I can feel it. I was pushed by the Hearthkeeper herself into waking up because this tiny little human was disturbing the natural order of things on the island.

She is quite intriguing. Her fierce spirit is very dragon-like but her desire to help her sister is uniquely and totally human. Not that I know any other humans, but it certainly isn’t very orc-like, nor was it dark elf behavior.

What to do with her? I could simply eat her. That would end all my problems in one go. I wouldn’t have to hear any more annoying arguments about the benefits of compassion, for one. And for another, I wouldn’t be beholden to her, wouldn’t have to carry out her silly ‘deal.’

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