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Thankfully, he didn’t understand anything she said after the first Eyrien curse she flung at hi his arm over her shoulders, wrapped her arm around his waist, and pulled hiot ht"

"Thethis, not you," Lucivar snarled as they shuffled to the door, not sure if he washer support

"There aren’t any Hey!"

He al for the door, but he needed to tighten his hand around so Cat was here alone, unprotected, with no one

but a wolf for co woh clenched teeth

"I’ed at his waist It didn’t do any good "You were easier to take care of before you woke up"

He snarled at her "

"Lucivar," Jaenelle said in that voice Healers used on irascible patients and idiots, "you’ve been in a healing sleep for the past three weeks Taking that into consideration as well as what it took to put you back together, I think I’ve seen every inch of youto dribble on the floor like an untrained puppy or are we going to get to where you wanted to go?"

A fierce desire to get well enough to stand on his oo feet so that he could strangle her got him to the bathroom Pride ht long enough to do as necessary, tie a bath towel around his waist, and reach the bathrooy and useful emotions were tapped out, so he didn’t protest when Jaenelle helped hie pine table in the cabin’s entle as they explored his back He kept his eyes fixed on the outside door, not ready yet to ask about the healing Then he felt one of his wings slowly unfurl, guided by those sa closed The other stretched out As she came around to the front, he turned his head and stared at a wing that was healthy and whole Stunned, he bit his lip and blinked back tears

Jaenelle glanced at his face, then returned her attention to the wing "You were lucky," she said quietly "In another week there wouldn’t have been enough healthy tissue left to rebuild thee the slime mold and the salt mines had done, even the best Eyrien Healers would have cut off the wings How could she rebuild thes here that didn’t fit his expectations He desperately needed to understand and didn’t knohere to begin

Then Jaenelle bent over to look at the lower part of the wing and the jewelry around her neck swung out of her shirt Later he’d ask why Witch earing a Sapphire Jewel Right now, all his attention was caught by the hourglass pendant that hung above the Jewel

The hourglass was the Black Widows’ sy about the witch ore it An apprentice wore a pendant with the gold dust sealed in the top half of the glass A journey old dust evenly divided between top and bottolass with all the gold dust in the bottom chamber

"When did you become a fully trained Black Widow?"

The air around him cooled "Does it bother you that I am?"

Obviously it bothered soave hiy and continued her inspection The air returned to normal "Last year"

"And you beca and started checking his right shoulder "Last year"

Lucivar whistled "Busy year"

Jaenelle laughed "Papa says he’s thrilled he survived it"

He could alainst the whetstone as his tee She had a father, a family, and yet lived without human companionship, not even a servant Exiled here because of the Hourglass? Or because she was Witch? Once he was fit again, this father of hers would have a few things to adjust to--like the Warlord Prince who now served her

"Lucivar" Jaenelle’s voice see his taut shoulder "Lucivar, what’s wrong?"

Tie, measured by the beat of a war drum heart The world became filled with individual, razor-sharp details A blade would flow throughwine as teeth sank into a throat

"Lucivar"

Lucivar blinked Felt the tension in Jaenelle’s fingers as she gripped his shoulders He backed froe, step

by mental step, while the wildness in him howled to run free Senses dulled by the salthim with scents and sounds She seduced him, too Not for sex, but for another kind of bond, in its oay just as powerful He wanted to rub against her so that her physical scent was on his skin He wanted to rub against her so thathis physical scent onher warned others that a powerful male had some claim to her, was clai her finger between his teeth, exerting enough force to display do her Her hand relaxed in sub the wild darkness within hi