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began chewing. Abruptly his jaw stiffened and his eyes
widened in horror. Hydeia winced, knowing only too well the
cruelly bitter taste. One of Ammah's eyes closed while he
began chewing again with exaggerated slowness. It wasn't
long before he spit the paste out into his cupped hand, and
turned to spit the last remains into the grass.
She tried not to, but seeing Ammah's pained expression,
laughter bubbled out of Hydeia's throat.
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He attempted to appear annoyed, but his eyes went soft
and amused. "We should have just shoved these down the
gortures' throats. By Koric, that is foul."
He took her right hand and began applying the paste
across the overlapping wounds. "Am I hurting you?"
Of course it hurt. Like being stabbed by stinging needles.
Hydeia controlled her features, steadied her breathing. "No."
He took her other hand in his. Tyalan and Uloki came near,
watched intently. Ammah's gentle ministrations coaxed
Hydeia's fingers to uncurl. He removed her leather bracer. His
fingers moved up her arms in turn, over the scratches,
leaving lingering pulses across her skin. His tongue ran across
his white teeth. His voice was a rough murmur. "You applied
this to the burn along my rib."
Hydeia nodded. "Yes. Of course."
"You chewed a lot of this nutwort."
She smiled. "It had to be done."
While Ammah considered that, his eyes went flat and hard.
"Not everyone would have bothered."
He was going under. He could feel the steady pull of it,
clamping around his shoulders and shoving him down.
Hydeia's hand had stilled in his palms. Her incredible
golden eyes had gone all soft and velvety. And it scared the
rotting shreds out of him.
He couldn't go through it again. Wouldn't. He'd never
survive a second time. Almost hadn't survived before.
Absently, Ammah's hand strayed toward the jagged scar
slanting across his abdomen, until he stopped himself with a
jolt. The skin along the scar seemed to tingle like an itch.
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Ammah swallowed, steadied himself, gathered his resolve,
and barricaded the last tender part of his heart. He couldn't
allow another woman near it, especially an Eaglekin female.
But one look at Hydeia and he knew he was already in deep.
She'd somehow wiggled her way far too close to his
protective barrier and he'd felt it beginning to crack.
He'd only been curious when he'd first felt Uloki soaring in
the throes of the courting dance. He had wanted to see for
himself the female who was true-bonded to Uloki's new mate.
He hadn't expected her to be so breathtaking or for the
compulsion drawing them together through their eagles' reyn
to slam into him with such force.
He had prepared to be dismissed and sent on his way
when the female Eaglekin realized that Uloki was a wilder,
had counted on it in fact, waited for the revulsion to slide
across her features when he first approached her in the
canyon, but not Hydeia. Instead she had stunned him by
thrusting that mating feather at his chest.
Ammah's lips quirked up into a lazy smile. Hydeia was a
rare Eaglekin, a treasure. He wondered if she knew how
different from the other females she really was. Her hands
and arms were a wondrous mixture of strength and softness.
The nutwort paste slid between their touch. He worried about
her wounds, whether she'd retain her dexterity, but the paste
seemed to loosen her hands.
"What?" Hydeia flexed her hand, testing the ache. He felt
her eyes slide over his face and felt his heart lose its steady
rhythm.
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"We should be going." All he could think about was
shaping his mouth to hers again, gliding his hands along that
smooth satiny skin. But he couldn't do it. Not when he knew
he wouldn't stay with her. He couldn't go back to the eyries,
to that way of life again. Especially not bonded to a wilder,
even if he had considered going back. Which he didn't. So as
much as he wanted Hydeia shreds! Wanted? He craved her.
Craved her like he'd never wanted anything or anyone more
in his entire life. He blew out a breath. He couldn't be with
her that way, knowing he would leave her. That he could
never be her mate. He wouldn't hurt her like that.
And she wasn't helping matters in the least. Waking up to
her coaxing touch, tentative and soft like the caress of a
spring breeze, her shining hair floating over both of them like
a gossamer veil. How was he supposed to resist that? And he
hadn't. He had given in, surrendered to her completely.
He pulled her to her feet, doing his best to ignore the flash
of heat that skidded down his spine every shredding time he
touched her. "Irrean's not much farther." And the sooner he
got her there, the safer his heart would be.
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Chapter Ten
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