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said, I babbled, feeling cold and peaceful.
My knees gave, and he was there to catch me.
I smiled into his face, as happy as I d ever
been.
You miserable arse, he cried, can t
you even follow one simple direction? He
gave my shirt a rude jerk and took the result-
ing strip of cloth to wrap around my wrist. It
was immediately soaked.
Of course I can, I told him, feeling
loopy and, truth be told, just a little bit
queasy. I can follow lots of directions. But
you give a knife to a man named Knife, and
then I m the one in charge, aren t I?
Shite, he muttered. Buckets of shite,
you bloody-minded fucker. He ripped an-
other cloth and tried to wrap my other wrist.
Not enough cloth and too much blood, and
he ripped the damned thing to shreds off my
body trying to make up the balance.
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Did you think damned near cutting
your hand off would impress me? Damned
awful way to bollix a job!
That s a lie, I muttered. I never bol-
lixed anything I carved. I carve up my flesh,
then it s all to make an improvement.
Talk about a fucking lie! His voice
broke, and I could tell he was losing the
battle against my life force. Sorry, Aerie-
Smith, can t win them all.
Gods!!! He was screaming now, weep-
ing, and that would not do. Sunrise, dam-
mit, this wasn t our deal! I read the damned
cave for you, and I picked my road!
Tears, came a sweet voice. My vision
was black now, and all sounds were blending
into the roar of the ocean. Tears, and you ve
paid them. Give him to me, Aerie-Smith, and
Thistle and I will see if we can pay you back
better& .
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Gods, Naef& gods& don t leave me,
dammit. What s the use of looking at you
with a man s eyes when you re not alive to
look back?
I had no answer to that. Perhaps I
should have, but I didn t. Aerie-Smith, why
aren t you holding me?
I don t know if I spoke or not, but I
don t think I was around for the reply.
Part X
Glass
I was incredibly surprised to wake up, that s
for certain.
My eyes wouldn t open at first. I heard two
women s voices: the girl with the sunrise hair
and another one I didn t recognize.
He should recover, but make him take
it easy for a week or so. The first voice. Sun-
rise, I would assume. She sounded anxious,
and the words were accompanied by a hand
on my forehead. Mmm& nice. But I wanted a
harder hand and a voice that rumbled.
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Make sure he eats. This voice was
sharp and short. We worked our arses off to
keep him alive. He needs to replace that
blood volume, dammit, no letting him run
around the island.
Thistle& . Sunrise s voice was& warn-
ing. Surreptitious, almost. She was looking at
something, I could feel it. When Thistle
spoke next, she sounded embarrassed.
You know what I mean. There was a
pause, one that had met and averted eyes in
it, and I tried hard to pull myself into con-
sciousness. Another thing, Thistle
muttered. He s not going to like& it& at
first. If you re any sort of a man, you ll find a
way past it. But keep him away from& glass,
for a bit.
Glass? Aerie-Smith sounded sur-
prised, and I was so happy to hear him that I
actually stopped concentrating on waking
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up. Waking up didn t matter. Aerie-Smith
was here.
Do I sound like I understand this clair-
voyant shite? Glass. That s what I said.
There was an irritated huff and then a gentle
hand on my shoulder. We re going, then,
Mister Pure-heart. Next time, maybe look for
tears and not blood.
Right then, it was a deal. The women s
voices faded away, and then& ah, I could not
mistake that touch. Aerie-Smith s hard
hands took mine, and his human lips kissed
the back.
Finally, a thought worth waking up for.
My vision was gray-scale at first, but I man-
aged, and it was worth it.
Naef? He sounded anxious, but he
looked wonderful. His eyes were different
from Kyln s, I thought at first. Kyln s were a
little wider, with fewer crow s feet in the
corners. Kyln s eyes didn t tilt up at the ends,
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just a little. Kyln s eyes didn t look sleepless
or worried.
Those aren t your cousin s eyes, I said
hoarsely, and he took my hand to his face
and wept.
I stayed awake just long enough to feel
his kiss on my forehead. A human kiss, with
stubbled cheek, but no fur and no fangs. I
watched his face as his lips touched my skin,
and it didn t change, not once. It stayed long,
with a square jaw and lean lips and those
wonderful deep brown eyes.
His hair, which fell into his eyes, was
brownish gold, with just a tint of strawberry
in the streaming sunshine of the window.
I dreamed of him for a few hours, just
as he was.
I woke up again when he was trying to
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