Page 70 of Dream Reaper

He didn’t respond, as good as dead on the forest floor.

Something churned through the leaves behind her, cracking and crunching through the forest debris. Ava twisted, heart thundering as she searched the shadows, expecting a myrk hound to melt out of the darkness, a hound bent on revenge…

But it was Brynja who stepped into the light of the moon.

Her gaze swept over Ava and lingered on Jerrid’s prostrate form. “What happened?”

Ava shook her head. “I don’t know. I think it’s the shadow trying to take control. I can’t wake him up.”

Brynja dropped to her knees beside her, gaze roaming up and down the dragon shifter’s body.

“I need your help.” The confession slipped past Ava’s lips, hardly more than a whisper.

Brynja shot her a hard look.

“This thing inside him? I’ve seen it before. It was living inside the Prince of Gelaira until his bride figured out a way to toss it out of him. But she had magic, sand magic. And he had powerful flame magic unlike anything I have ever seen before.”

“And what do we have?” Brynja asked grimly, lips twisting. “A helpless elf and a mad dragon shifter.”

Ava flinched but nodded. “That’s about the sum of it. Princess Persis fought this thing in nightmares. She went into Haryk’s head and fought the monster inside his mind.”

“Can you do that?” Brynja’s brow arched as she looked Ava over with something akin to intrigue.

Ava flushed and shook her head. “I have no idea how I would attempt it. I don’t have sand magic. And that’s how she did it.”

“So, the only weapon we can use against this thing is something we can never have.” Brynja braced her hands against her thighs, rocking back and forth slightly as she stewed. “That’s dandy.”

Ava ran her fingers over her face, her veins alive with adrenaline. This was a battle they couldn’t possibly win. Nothing she or Brynja could scheme would stand a chance against a creature of magic.

“You and the girls need to get out of the forest,” Ava whispered as her fingers trailed over her collarbone and fell lifelessly into her lap. “You should take them and go. Get as far away from here as you possibly can.”

Brynja’s lips compressed into a white line. “We can’t do that. We have nowhere to go. If we’re caught…they’ll make us go back to our husbands, and that is something we cannot do.”

“Go back to Haldor, then.”

But the human girl shook her head, her expression hardening. “What is there to go back to? Our people would just return us because they won’t risk breaking the treaty. Not for us. We’re on our own.”

Ava flinched, those words ringing in her head. She understood how Brynja felt. She and her brother had been alone for so long… Was he thinking about her right now? Wondering where she was? Had he managed not to get himself killed?

Or was he already gone, and was she truly and utterly alone at last?

“So, we have to fight this thing. You and me.”

Brynja met and held her gaze, her smile hard but a little wry. “Well, this is going to be fun. Fighting a mortal enemy with a mortal enemy. What isn’t fun about that?”

“I’m not your enemy.” Ava’s nostrils flared. “I know you blame my people for your lot in life, but I swear I had nothing to do with that. I didn’t choose this either. I know it isn’t the same thing, but how do you think we feel? The elvish women? Now that brides are coming from Haldor…”

Brynja waited in silence as Ava struggled to finish the thought. She had never spoken these words out loud. They were too personal, too painful.

She inhaled a deep breath and knew she needed to be honest with this human girl if she stood a chance of winning her trust. “Now that brides are being sent from Haldor, nobody wants us. Nobody wants me.”

Brynja remained motionless, as if she hadn’t even heard Ava.

“Nobody wants me. I’ll never have a husband. Never have children.” A sob clogged the back of her throat. “I will always be alone.”

The human girl held her gaze, her expression hard. “I thought you and Jerrid were married.”

Ava stiffened, horrified by what she had just done with her heated, careless words…