Page 83 of Dream Reaper

He struggled to dig his heels into the dirt, but his feet kept moving forward no matter how hard he screamed for his body to listen to him, to stop moving, to stop everything.

“You’re going to lose yourself!”

But she ignored him, chasing Talos into the forest, away from the girls, into darkness.

The shadow rocked with laughter, peels of thunder pounding against Jerrid’s ears. He didn’t know what was worse—the silence of Dragon’s absence or the incessant barrage of the shadow’s presence. It seemed he was not destined to know peace of any kind.

Ava took a running leap and kicked off the trunk of the tree so she could come at Talos from above and behind.

Jerrid performed the same maneuver on empty air, his stomach flopping unpleasantly. He expected his body to go sailing onward, but it jerked to a halt, kicking off an invisible tree trunk nowhere near his location and flinging him high into the air after an opponent that wasn’t even there.

This was beyond ridiculous.

It had to be the most humiliating experience of his life.

His worst fears had finally come true: he was truly nothing more than a puppet to Dragon’s whims.

Some things aren’t meant to be more than puppets, the shadow whispered in his ear. Look at her. So glorious. She’s meant to be with him, with your dragon. And you? You’re just in the way. They won’t even remember you when you’re gone.

No one would remember him when he was gone because he didn’t have any friends. Perhaps his father would miss him, but Carr certainly wouldn’t miss cleaning up after Dragon’s messes.

After Jerrid’s messes.

And his family certainly wouldn’t miss his hot-tempered outbursts or the smashed furniture and possessions around their longhouse. Their evenings around the common fire must be so quiet now, so peaceful without Jerrid and Dragon mucking things up.

They weren’t needed or wanted.

No, the shadow whispered, just you. You aren’t needed or wanted.

And that stung because it was true.

Jerrid closed his eyes and gave in to the uncontrollable dance as Ava and his dragon drove off their enemy, fighting without him and doing a bang-up job of it. He felt the blows to his fists as Ava struck Talos. Felt the pang of retaliation when she failed to dodge fast enough.

And yet she pressed onward, laughing.

Laughing!

Didn’t she realize how much danger she was in? If she had given Dragon this much control of her body—of their bodies—there might be no coming back from this.

What if they shifted permanently, and Jerrid was left to follow in their footsteps for the rest of his life, a mute, useless shadow?

He couldn’t live like this.

You don’t have to. I can help.

Jerrid tried to ignore the thought, knowing it was a lie, but the whispers continued, gentle and coaxing. So many promises. Promises to set him free, to make him stronger, to break his tie to Dragon forever.

And once he’s gone, she’ll be all yours, the shadow whispered, taking his game one step farther. You could have her all to yourself. Bend her to your will.

“I don’t want to bend her to my will!” He gasped as his body spun in an arc, his arm outstretched in a powerful maneuver that had killed other, lesser foes.

But when he opened his eyes to peek at Ava’s progress, Talos tenaciously clung to life as he ducked behind trees and flung fireballs in all directions. Behind them, a swath of chaos ensued. Broken tree limbs, smoldering piles of leaves, branches snapped off and piled on the ground.

It was a losing battle, and Jerrid suspected they all knew it.

Was this what he could have been if he had embraced his demon instead of trying to fight against him? Would he have been this strong, this unstoppable, a force of nature not even a powerful dark elf with raging magic could withstand?

No, the shadow whispered, you would never measure up to her. But I can change that…