Page 61 of Dream Reaper

At last, her fingers unstuck themselves, and she eased back, flexing each digit as she stared at the scar on her arm, at the…

At the matching black spiral pattern emblazoned on the scales around Dragon’s stitched wound.

What had she done?

Frantically, she replayed her own words in her mind… I swear I’m going to heal you…

And what was it he had said? By my oath, I’ll eat you if you don’t make it stop!

Her gaze shot to Dragon, who lay quivering on the ground, eyes squeezed shut. They had both taken a vow. They had both sworn to do something.

And she’d been using her magic while they did it.

Magic and blood.

The most dangerous and binding combination in the world.

“Flames, no,” she rasped.

Had they just…taken a blood oath?

A lump formed in the back of her throat as she turned her gaze from the scars on her own body to Dragon’s face and back again. The potential consequences began to race through her mind: if she couldn’t hold up her own end of the bargain, would he be forced to literally eat her to satisfy the terms of his own promise?

And if she couldn’t heal him, would she end up dying anyway, even if he managed not to eat her…because she had broken her own oath?

“Oh no, oh no…” The words exploded from her mouth, over and over again.

She scrubbed at the scars on her arm. There had to be a way to take it back. This wasn’t a proper blood oath. Flames bite her, she hadn’t realized what she was doing! Neither of them had. In a moment of desperate panic, they had both said things. And, yes, they had meant them, but not literally…had they?

“What’s wrong?”

She looked up from her arm, tears pricking at the backs of her eyes. What was she going to tell him? If she told him the truth of what she’d done…he might just eat her out of spite.

“I-I think I made a mistake,” she began, her voice shaking. “I think…I think I accidentally performed a blood oath.”

He blinked at her, his expression hazy and unfocused. “What does that mean?”

She inhaled a shuddering breath. “I think it means that if I fail to heal you, I’ll die. And if you don’t kill me for not keeping my word…you will die.”

His eyes snapped wide, steam erupting from between his clenched teeth in a sudden burst. She flinched backward, pressing into his side, waiting for the moment when he lost his temper and ripped her in half. But he merely stared at her.

“I’m sorry,” she rasped. “I didn’t mean to. My hand was bleeding…and I used my magic to stop your wound from reopening…”

His eyelids fluttered even more slowly, as if even that small motion took too much energy. “It doesn’t matter. We have a bigger problem.”

The words rumbled from between his teeth, each one pronounced with perfect clarity. Her heartbeat escalated, her fingers curling into fists as she pressed them hard against her thighs.

“It’s Jerrid,” Dragon said, wincing against the pain. “I can’t find him. He’s…he’s gone.”

Ava’s blood ran cold, and she pressed a fist to her lips. “You don’t think… He isn’t…”

“I don’t know.” Dragon stared at her, his emotions masked behind his reptilian features.

But was that fear she saw flickering in his eyes? If Jerrid was gone forever…what would that mean for Dragon? Could he survive without his other half?

“The shadow,” Dragon continued, grating out the words. “I think the shadow has him.”

Ava glanced toward the forest. That presence she had sensed in the Shadewood…in her own nightmares. That the others in the camp had sensed… Now even Dragon had fallen prey to it.