Desire and the Viper

I got to thinking about the Endless battle between Desire and Dream, and it occurred to me perhaps the viper's attack was intentional to further irritate and distract Dream from his duties?

I couldn't find anything in the comics nor by asking a friend who owns almost every print of Sandman. I wanted to toss this out here and see if anyone else had a similar thought or if I'm way off.

Thanks fellow comic friends;