Page 48 of Dream Reaper

“She is my wife, as I have said,” Jerrid managed between stiff lips, avoiding looking at either of the insufferable females. “I will bring her safely back to Eroth, and I intend to perform my duties to the letter.”

“What, and letting her sleep in a cell is outside the scope of your husbandly duties?”

Jerrid’s temper flared as Dragon growled low in his thoughts. “Yes. Yes, it is. She will not go back to the cell.”

Brynja’s smile slid away. “Then we’re back to an impasse, dragon rider. Or should I say, dragon shifter.”

His cheeks grew hot.

“Though I must say, you need to learn to control the shifting. It isn’t safe doing what you’re doing.”

“No kidding.”

Brynja’s gaze grew sharper, alternating between him and the still-blushing Ava. “No. You misunderstand me. Fighting against the shift is dangerous. If you don’t become one with your dragon, the sickness will take you. And then it will destroy you.”

Jerrid’s heart skipped a beat, Dragon listening as intently as he was, his thoughts suddenly focused.

Ava too stared at Brynja, her lips parted. “What do you mean? The sickness? What sickness?”

“The dragon sickness,” Brynja shot at her with a derisive look, as if this were something a healer should already know. “I’ve never seen it happen because I’ve never met a dragon shifter before, but my pa used to tell me stories about one of his old mates. The dragon sickness killed him.”

The words, spoken in a bored and emotionless voice, felt like a slap across the face.

She’s lying, Dragon snarled, but something akin to panic simmered beneath the surface of his thoughts.

Ava settled horrified eyes on him. She clearly believed that Brynja spoke the truth, or at least that she spoke what she thought was the truth. Brynja probably had no reason to doubt her da’s stories. But surely, he had been exaggerating to make the tale more interesting.

Jerrid had never heard of a shifter being killed by his own dragon before.

“Thank you for the advice,” he began and cleared his throat to release the sudden fit of hoarseness, “but I have everything under control.”

A low, deep laugh rumbled in his head. Except when I have everything under control for you…

He grimaced. “I don’t see that there’s a problem. The moments when I shift are very rare. I just won’t shift anymore. Problem solved.”

Ava and Brynja both snorted, and Dragon roared with laughter.

Jerrid’s cheeks warmed. “I’m glad to see you all have confidence in me.”

“It isn’t that we don’t have confidence in you,” Ava said, sobering. “It’s that we know it isn’t true. You forget that I have met Dragon. Up close and personal. He isn’t tamable, Jerrid. He’s out of control, and when you let him have access to your…to your body, you put everyone at risk. Not just yourself.”

“I haven’t hurt anyone, except maybe Talos, who deserved it.”

“You threatened to eat me,” she reminded him.

“Dragon did that.”

She sighed deeply, but before she could respond, Brynja cleared her throat.

“And that is exactly my point,” Brynja said. “You talk about yourself and Dragon as if you’re two different beings. You’re supposed to be one.”

Jerrid shook his head. “I don’t want to be one with him. I want to get rid of him.”

Ouch. That hurt.

“You can’t get rid of him. It would be like severing a limb. Or tearing your own heart out of your chest.”

Jerrid thought he might be able to manage it, thank you very much. But she did have a point. Dragon wouldn’t go quietly, and if Jerrid was to get rid of him…he would need help. And Ava and Brynja were the only two people besides his parents who knew who—no, what—he was.