Page 7 of Dream Reaper

Behind them, the cursing and thundering footsteps grew dangerously louder. Jerrid held perfectly still, his lungs seizing, and waited.

CHAPTER 3

AVA

Ava froze as the sounds of approaching footsteps increased.

“I’m going to burn you alive when I catch you!” The all-too-familiar threats she’d come to expect from Talos echoed through the forest.

But if that was Talos blundering through the forest and snarling curses like a sailor…who was lying on top of her? Pressing her down into the leaves, into the damp and moldy-smelling soil?

Her heartbeat raced faster as a million potential new dangers darted through her thoughts. Brigands, mercenaries, monsters of an ilk she’d not yet encountered…

Leaves crunched near their hiding place.

The hand pressed more tightly against her mouth in an unspoken warning to remain silent. The overwhelming scent of musk and something woodsy caused her nostrils to flare.

She had no intention of alerting Talos to her presence, so she refrained from trying to bite that mysterious hand again. However, she couldn’t help but wonder if her new captor was an even greater threat than the one she was trying to escape from.

Ava willed her breathing to slow, straining her eyes to see in the blackness of their hiding place. With her hands and the magical bindings smashed between her body and the one lying on top of her, no light touched her eyes.

All was dark and impenetrable and endless.

Her fingers twitched against her will, her fingertips brushing against rough fabric and stiff leather, and a firm chest. One of her fingers pressed against something cold and smooth and slightly curved… A buckle? Or perhaps the curve of a dagger’s hilt.

The thought made her stomach tighten with dread.

Beyond the immediate darkness surrounding her, the night had fallen eerily silent, but she knew Talos was still out there somewhere. Lurking. Watching. Searching.

Her breathing quickened despite her best attempts to remain calm. He could be anywhere, preparing to blast them with a violent burst of fire magic…

A sudden flurry of crackling leaves and snapping twigs was the only warning they had. The fellow on top of her grunted in pain and rolled sideways, dragging her with him.

For a moment they changed positions—her on top—but then he flung her away and set her free. She rolled twice through the ferns before she managed to crawl to her knees and push up to see what was happening.

Two dark shadows grappled with one another in the darkness. She lifted her hands and cast a halo of blue light over them—over Talos in his dark-blue tunic and the stranger dressed in scarlet and brown leathers.

The colors of Haldor.

Her attacker was human? But what was he doing in the middle of the dark elf forest, at least fifty miles from the border? And why would he come to her aid?

“You’ve stolen my captive,” Talos snarled as he ducked and delivered a savage blow to the human’s midsection.

But at the last moment, the man twisted and spun, deflecting the worst of the blow. “She isn’t yours to claim.”

“I claimed her anyway.” Talos spat to one side and then wiped at a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, his gaze skittering toward the place where Ava hunkered.

Her lips parted, gut clenching at his audacity to claim her in this way.

But before she could respond, Talos continued with his tirade. “I’ll ransom her in exchange for safe passage out of this forsaken forest. She’s going to get me out of this mess, one way or another.”

Ava jerked her head up, heat flooding her cheeks as her stomach clenched. “I’ll do nothing of the sort.”

She struggled to her feet, legs trembling. Her body pitched sideways, and she leaned against the rough bark of a tree to steady herself. She tried to make a run for it, but Talos and the human staggered into her path, driving her back against the tree again.

Talos and the human continued to engage in close combat—punching, ducking, grabbing at one another as they crashed side to side, snapping small branches off the trees and trampling the undergrowth.

Every time Talos tried to lift his hand to summon his magic, the human deftly thumped his arm back down to his side or against his own chest. And if Talos tried to use his magic in those compromising positions…he’d risk putting a cauterized hole in his own chest.