Page 36 of Dream Reaper

She whispered soothingly to the dragon as the boy trotted up behind her.

“Is the dragon okay?”

“I don’t know.” Ava glanced over her shoulder, trying to keep her expression calm and reassuring. “I need you to find the bag of supplies that Brynja brought with us. Can you make yourself a torch and search the meadow? We came out of the forest over there.”

When she pointed toward a gap in the trees where the trail led to the ruins, the boy nodded eagerly. He snatched up a burning firebrand and bolted across the meadow, his bare feet disappearing into the long grass.

Echo moaned piteously.

“I know, old girl, I know. I’m so sorry.” She rubbed the dragon’s neck again, daring to come closer to her head so that she could look into the dragon’s wide, terrified eyes. “It’s okay, girl. You’re going to be⁠—”

A guttural roar rent the night air, frightening nesting birds from the treetops. Ava spun and stared into the woods.

Unless she was mistaken…

That sounded like a dragon’s roar.

CHAPTER 10

JERRID

Dragon dove between two large trees, bellowing at the enraged wyrm. Behind him, Brynja lay on the ground, unmoving.

If only his human had given him control sooner, the woman wouldn’t be lying in a bed of leaves.

He spat a ball of fire at the hideous monster behind the trees. Worms were supposed to be small. Able to be smashed beneath a clawed foot. Yanked out of the ground and eaten as a snack.

They weren’t supposed to be big enough to do the eating.

The wyrm ducked and rolled, her huge tail spinning to right herself as she came up behind another stand of trees. Dragon dove after her, this queen of wyrms that was about to be the snack of dragons.

He might have let her live, minus a leg or two, but she’d tried to steal the human child. And Dragon had a rule about younglings.

They were off-limits, even to his voracious appetite.

Some things just weren’t allowed, and this mossy monstrosity had crossed a line even he wouldn’t cross, even when in the worst of tempers. He snapped at the lashing tail as the wyrm spun back to her feet.

She hissed and spat venom at him from between her long fangs. He snarled and drove her backward toward a thick line of trees. If he could corner her against those trees, she’d have nowhere to run.

But Queenie didn’t seem inclined to go down without a fight. She hissed and launched toward him, trying to wrap her tail around him. But her rough body only slid over his smooth dragon scales with a clicking noise.

“I’m not as easy to eat as younglings, Queenie.”

Her white eyes blinked at him. Nor am I, lizard.

He shook her off and backed away, grinning. “That wasn’t very nice. But I like your spunk.”

Hungry. You look tasty beneath that armor.

“I’m not tasty, I can assure you. Too tough and bitter. And you aren’t looking so tasty yourself. All poison and rot.”

The rootwyrm queen laughed, a long, low hiss of laughter that coiled around Dragon’s scales and actually sent a shiver down his back. This thing was evil. He was no specimen of good behavior, but this creature had reached a new low of darkness.

I live on blight. She grinned at him, her great white eyes blinking lazily. This forest is a feast.

“You’re nothing but a stomach with legs,” Dragon said, leaves and twigs crunching beneath his claws as he circled around her, trying to get into just the right position.

And you are meat with teeth. Once I remove them, I will suck the blood from your body. And then I will gnaw on your⁠—