To Tame a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,45
hiding from the world? What is the point of eternal life if you do not live?”
Falthyris’s brows fell low, and his frown deepened. “What do you know of immortality? How could you even pretend to comprehend it?”
It would have been easy for her to take insult from his words, from the bitterness, defensiveness, and accusation lacing them, but there was something more in his voice that prevented her from being offended. Vulnerability. There was just a hint of vulnerability in his tone, a hint of underlying confusion. A hint of dawning realization.
“I cannot comprehend it,” she replied gently, “but I know that I have lived. I have cherished what time I have been gifted. Whether ten years or ten thousand, why waste it? Why let time fall away like sand sifting through your fingers?”
“Now I have little time to waste, regardless of how I intend to use it.”
“So fill that time meaningfully. Make it worthwhile. Make up for all the years you spent asleep.”
He released a soft huff through his nostrils. “Dragonsbane has toiled to ensure dragonkind knows naught but suffering.”
“My people have suffered because of it as well. As you said, the whole world has suffered. Dragons were not alone in that.”
Pressing his lips together tight, Falthyris brushed the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone. “I suspected such as I watched those cities die, crumble, and be swallowed by the sands over the long years.”
Elliya’s brows furrowed. “What are cities?”
“You do not know?” he asked. When she shook her head, he released a thoughtful grunt and said, “They were places where humans lived. Your ancestors, many generations ago. They constructed dozens of tall buildings out of stone and wood, creating settlements where hundreds or thousands of them lived and worked. Some of those buildings were taller than I was in my natural form.”
So many people… Elliya couldn’t even imagine what a thousand people grouped together would look like.
“My tribe lives in stone dwellings carved into a cliffside south of here, above the desert, but we do not even number one hundred, much less thousands. Not even counting our sister tribes we trade with.” She let out another soft sigh. “It does not even seem possible that there were thousands of humans in the whole world, especially not in one place.”
“Not one place. There were many cities. Your kind has always vastly outnumbered mine, and even now I fear that holds true—more so than ever, perhaps. I have encountered few dragons in recent centuries, and based on their accounts, only males have been hatching from eggs. As that ratio between males and females has increased, the males have become increasingly aggressive when the comet is overhead. Many male dragons have killed one another over their desire for a dragoness, and often those females are harmed or killed during those struggles. It seems there are not enough dragonesses to replenish our kind.”
Elliya flattened her palm on his shoulder. “This has been since the Red Star?”
“Yes. It is a result of Dragonsbane’s curse.”
“We have birthed fewer and fewer males. We have but five males in our tribe, two of whom are old and likely not long for this world and two who are too young to sire children. At least one of those boys will be traded to a sister tribe once he is of age to sire.” She searched his blue, blue eyes. “That is why my people have chosen to view the Red Star as a boon rather than a curse. We have had stories passed down from our ancestors telling us that our brave huntresses may venture out to claim dragon mates beneath the Red Star, bringing prime males to the tribe who will revitalize our bloodlines and protect us from the desert’s many dangers.
“They—you—are our only hope.”
His brows fell, a deep crease forming between them. “I am no savior for your people, Elliya. There is no saving either humans or dragons from this slow decline.”
“But what if—” Elliya sealed her lips and looked away before she could voice the rest of those words.
No. Dragons and humans would not come together, not when there was such a cost. Not when there was such hatred.
“Is it so horrible to be human?” she asked instead, unable to meet his eyes. “To be with me?”
“However I appear, Elliya, I am not human, and my views of your kind were shaped long before now. But you have challenged those beliefs.” Falthyris slipped his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her