Page 109 of Dream Reaper

The weight of responsibility pressed down on her, suffocating her. Unable to stand it, she rose to her feet and slipped from the room. Outside in the corridor, she pressed her back against the wall and leaned her head against the cold stone, closing her eyes and trying to still her breathing.

Dragon, are you there? she pleaded desperately.

But of course, only silence answered her plea. He was long gone, well on his way to Eroth.

“You all right, lass?” Finnr called from his post outside the storage room.

Ava forced her eyes open and padded down the hall so that he wouldn’t have to shout. “I’m fine. Just tired. And…a little nervous. It’s going to be a long night.”

Finnr’s gaze flicked down the corridor toward the stairs leading to the barred entrance. “Aye, it will be that. But I’ve pulled wilder rabbits out of my hat. We’ll get through the night just fine.”

“Rabbits out of your hat?” Ava echoed, confused about what he meant. Was this some strange human expression she had yet to learn about?

“Aye,” the man said, a twinkle in his pale eyes. “I know a bit of magic myself, lass. I can pull rabbits from hats. And…what’s this?”

He flicked a hand toward her ear. She jerked away instinctively, then laughed when he held a coin in front of her face.

“I can also pull coins from the ears of pretty lasses. The prettier the lass, the heftier the coin.”

He placed the coin into the palm of her hand. It wasn’t quite round in shape, a little ragged in areas as if it had been hastily made, and silver in color. A rune resembling a lightning bolt had been stamped on the back of the coin. She wasn’t familiar enough to know the worth of the human currency cradled in her palm.

“Is this one worth much?” she asked with a laugh.

His grin widened. “Oh, aye. Worth lots.”

She looked down at the small coin and shook her head. “You’re teasing me.”

When she tried to hand back the coin, he slipped his hands into his pockets and shook his head. “I never take back gifts. Especially from elvish lasses who have a bit of dragon in them.”

Heat blazed in her cheeks.

“Well, um, thank you.” She slipped the coin into her pocket, unsure what use she would ever have for it but pleased by the sentiment. “You must pull a lot of coins from your wife’s ears. She’s very pretty!”

He grinned and leaned a shoulder against the wall, casting a dreamy look toward the ceiling. “Oh, aye, the fairest of the fair, that one. Love of my heart. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

Ava’s breath pulled taut as she thought about how she would go on without Jerrid and Dragon when this was all over and they went their separate ways. When he had left for Eroth, he made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t interested in anything more than fulfilling his duty of keeping her safe. A kiss was just a kiss, after all. It didn’t mean anything.

At least, it hadn’t meant anything to Jerrid.

Surely, he would have said something before leaving if he cared about her. Dragon’s intimate insinuations about coming back for her… They meant nothing if Jerrid didn’t agree with him. And it seemed like Dragon was keeping these feelings to himself. He wasn’t telling Jerrid everything.

She had no idea what Jerrid thought of her.

It was so confusing, and it hurt too much to dwell on it.

“How long have you been married?” she asked, trying to keep her mind off her own woes.

“Nigh on twelve years now. We ran away and got married at the height of the summer solstice, and my love was hardly more than a child with dreams in her eyes.” Finnr still wore that dreamy, faraway look. “We were both young and foolish, but we were determined to get married before her name came up in the yearly selection.”

Ava’s heart panged. She imagined a lot of young people were trying to do that very thing, to avoid the peaceweaver draft. It pained her to think about all the couples cruelly torn apart because of this treaty.

“Good thing we did, too. My sister didn’t have any young lads pursuing her—she was too hard and feisty and scared them all away—and her name came up in the selection about two years ago. She was only fourteen.”

Ava gasped.

“And that’s how you ended up here? You came looking for her?”

Finnr sighed heavily and lowered his gaze from the ceiling to hold her own. “Aye. We came to rescue the fool girl, but turns out she didn’t need rescuing. She freed herself before she even got to the altar and started this merry band of runaways.”