Page 143 of Dream Reaper

Ava shot him an appreciative look, and then she bent to her work.

Brynja leaped down from the rubble pile. “Has anyone seen Siri?”

The girls scattered to look, calling out in urgent voices. Finnr stumbled alongside Jerrid. When he tripped again, Jerrid caught him and lowered him onto a rock, blood splattering against Jerrid’s bare chest.

“Hey, why don’t you rest for a moment?”

Finnr shook his head. “I can’t. I need to find her. I need to find my wife.”

“I’ll find her,” Jerrid promised him and pressed down firmly on his shoulder. “Just stay here and rest for a minute.”

He rose and strode forward, his gaze flicking around the devastation, searching for anything human shaped that might be half buried in the rubble. He searched desperately for a hand, a foot, even just a bootlace…

Odin help them if she was buried beneath the tower. They’d never dig her out in time.

He was so busy searching the ground that he walked straight into Brynja. She held out a hand to stop him, and he froze, his gaze searching her hardened face before shifting to what lay on the ground behind her.

The breath ripped out of his lungs.

Finnr’s wife lay lifeless, her pale-blue eyes wide and unblinking, a gaping hole in her chest.

Jerrid slumped to his knees as a guttural no ripped through his stunned brain.

CHAPTER 35

AVA

Finnr’s anguished cries raised goose bumps on Ava’s arms as they simultaneously drove a shard of pain deep, deep into her heart.

Blinded with tears, she tried to focus on the boy lying on the ground in front of her, but she couldn’t get the image of Finnr’s face out of her mind. The look in his eyes when Jerrid had laid her on the ground beside Roar and when he realized that Siri wasn’t going to wake up…

She wiped her cheek against her shoulder, silent sobs shaking her body as she ran trembling hands up and down the boy’s arms, searching for broken bones.

She couldn’t help the dead.

Siri was gone. One look had been enough to tell Ava the worst had happened, that Siri had probably been struck by the shadow and died instantly, her wound so severe that nothing would have been able to save her.

Not even Princess Persis with her glorious sand magic could bring someone back from the death realm.

Finnr clutched his broken world to his chest and rocked back and forth while Ava tried to work on his son. Maybe he wouldn’t lose everything today if she could just make sure Roar would be okay…

She checked both his legs, then tugged the boy’s tunic free of his trousers so that she could examine his abdomen. It was soft to the touch, giving no indication that he had an internal injury.

She moved to run her fingers over his scalp, searching for a head wound that might explain why he hadn’t woken up yet when the other children attacked by the shadow had already awoken, traumatized but unharmed.

Overcome by more tears, Ava had to pause to wipe her face against her shoulders again.

She felt like an interloper in Finnr and Roar’s pain. She hadn’t known Siri like they had, and yet she couldn’t stop crying.

And she wasn’t the only one.

All around them, girls were crying. Many of them had gathered around Finnr, leaning against his back and shoulders as he huddled over his wife. Some of them were also holding on to the dead woman, their hands resting on her ankle, her shoulder, whatever they could reach.

This wasn’t just a solitary loss. The entire community had been ripped open by this sorrow, this rage, this horror. Siri had been one of them. More than just wife and mother, but also sister and companion and friend.

And now she was a warrior, fallen in battle.

Finnr lifted his head and stared at Ava, the unspoken question raging in his eyes.