Page 43 of Dream Reaper

Roar frowned. “That doesn’t sound very brave to me. Sounds like mother’s work.”

“Oh, it would be very brave. Trust me.” She could almost taste the food on her tongue, it was so close to her reach. “It doesn’t have to be much. Just some bread and water.”

“Well, I guess I can find something. I suppose that would make me your hero, wouldn’t it? I like being a hero.”

Relief blossomed in her stomach. “Yes. It would definitely make you a hero.”

He scampered off into the shadows as Ava slid down the tree into a slump at the base. A few minutes later, he trotted back to her side, holding something small and round in his hand. He thrust it toward her.

She took it with trembling fingers. It was just a single bruised apple.

“Mum wouldn’t give me anything else. She’s mad at me for going off into the forest.”

Ava took a hurried bite. “It’s okay. Thank you. I’m so hungry I could eat anything.”

“Even a slug? Could you eat a slug?”

Ava nearly choked on her bite of apple, the sweetness taking on a sudden bitter tang at just the thought of eating slugs.

She swallowed and shook her head fervently. “No, I don’t think I could, ah, eat a slug.”

Roar’s expression turned smug. “You would if you were starving.”

I certainly feel like I am, she thought wryly as she devoured the apple and ate every bit of flesh she could scrape off the core.

She gave the remains a regretful look before tossing it into the undergrowth and wiping her hands on her skirt. She did feel better. The sweetness of the apple and the feel of food in her stomach… Yes, it was giving her strength. But would it be enough?

A woman left the cluster around the campfires and moved toward her and Roar. Ava forced herself to her feet, preparing for whatever was coming.

It was Brynja.

The girl’s hardened expression looked even more feral than usual with the blood smeared all over her face. She had wrapped a makeshift bandage around her head but hadn’t bothered to clean herself up yet.

Ava debated briefly whether or not she should explain the dangers of infection to the girl…

But no, she didn’t dare.

The girl stopped a few paces away, hands on her hips. “Time to go back to your cell.”

Ava’s heart sank at the growled words. She had hoped her actions this evening would have earned her a little trust, but apparently it hadn’t been enough.

“Very well,” she said, sighing internally.

“Ah, I was hoping she could stay in my tent,” Roar interrupted, grabbing Ava’s hand.

She stared down at their linked fingers, a strange emotion stirring inside her chest. At least someone here didn’t hate her guts.

“Absolutely not,” Brynja muttered as she cast him a seething look. “She’s a dangerous prisoner, not a pet.”

She prodded Ava in the direction of the ruins. At least she hadn’t found it necessary to use the blindfold this time.

The boy’s nostrils flared as he frowned. “I know she isn’t a pet. I did wonder if she was a queen, though. A dark elf queen.”

Ava choked and coughed.

“Are you a queen? Oh, oh, are you an evil queen?” he demanded, eyes sparkling and his smile widening. “Are you evil? I hope you are! That would be really exciting! Except I might have to fight you and slay you because of your wicked deeds.”

And yet he continued to cling to her hand as if she were his big sister. This thought caused a pang to hit her in the chest. Her brother Peregrin had held her hand like this many years ago when he was a lad. Now he was grown and doing foolish things and trying to get himself killed.