Page 129 of Dream Reaper

He couldn’t say the words, afraid he’d change his mind if he admitted them out loud. That he would do more than set the world on fire for her.

That he would die for her.

Dragon peeled his eyelids apart again and gave him a knowing look, another tear glistening against his dull, tarnished scales.

“I understand,” he rumbled. “I will see if there is a way for me to let you say goodbye before…before…”

But Jerrid shook his head. “It’s more important that this works. Just tell her for me, okay?”

Jerrid exhaled in relief and backed a safe distance away as the mist and shadows tugged more fiercely at his legs, trying to coil around his wrists as if they knew what was about to happen.

As if they were eager to pull him wholly into their dark embrace, dragging him down to his final resting place.

Pain sliced through Dragon’s chest as he summoned the agonizing strength to shake off the mist and lift his face to the starless sky looming above him. Heat built in his chest as he summoned the last of his energy, that final ember he’d been guarding so fiercely, that part he’d been saving for the very end.

His heart—the core of his fire.

It should be him. He should be the one staying behind, but there was no other way to save Ava. And if Jerrid could make the sacrifice to stay behind…he would just have to be strong enough to leave.

With a roar of rage and regret, he released the heat, the pain, and set the night ablaze, breaking free of the chains that held him down. And as Dragon took to the sky, to freedom…

Jerrid tumbled into the darkness.

CHAPTER 31

AVA

Prince Haryk’s scream ripped through the forest, setting Ava’s teeth on edge as she spun away from Jerrid. The shadow hovered above the fiery phoenix, huge black tentacles driven deep into the bird’s molten chest.

Her own scream died soundlessly in her throat as the fiery blue heat of the phoenix began to drain back into the shadow, drawn up through those horrific tentacles embedded in his chest.

The blue magic spiraled around the shadow magic, twining with it…

Becoming one with it.

And the shadow grew impossibly stronger. It rippled with laughter, each peel like thunder, so loud it pounded against her eardrums and threatened to burst them open.

She pressed both palms to her ears, not sure she could stand it.

It was feeding on them—on Dragon and the phoenix.

She’d known it as Dragon slipped out of her mind like water running down a mountain to the sea, his energy draining out of her and leaving her hollow and empty. She’d known it the moment Prince Haryk’s scream shattered against her eardrums.

Just as she now knew they had reached the end of their battle.

The end of the world as they knew it.

Because this thing was about to unleash itself on Rhuin, and once it devoured Dragon and Haryk, nothing would stand in its way.

If she didn’t do something now, she would be powerless to stop this.

Grinding her teeth together, she reached inside herself and summoned the remnants of her fire. She poured her magic into her palms, scraping the dregs of her body for every last flicker. She left only one tiny whisper inside herself. Everything else she stole.

If she could make this last attack big enough to snap the prince out of the shadow’s clutches…

She stepped toward the clearing, forcing her way through air that felt as thick as sludge.

A tentacle of dark magic writhed toward her. She snatched at the final reserved flame and threw a glamour around herself. The air rippled as the glamour did its work.