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"So I stayed here," he continued "And I becalued to his face It was pitch-black outside, and the bedside lalow that bronzed her pale skin Her dark hair had fallen froht across, and her thick lashes outlining her eyes like kohl, she could have coyptian princess A priestess

Don’t go there

"De the locket

"They’re not de out the second layer of his prepared story, which he’d never used before because nobody had ever gotten close enough for hi The camazotz are an evolutionary relic, an archaic species that should have died out a long ti in this one little section of rain forest"

"Okay" She nodded "All rightThatfroed in her expression, al to hi them by yourself"

"What’s the alternative? Call in the scientific community to ’study’ theer quotes "No, thanks Next thing I know, the fuckers are a protected species with a growing population, and the village is being ain" He’d seen too many forced relocations to allow that to happen unless Rez and his people wanted to go, which they ada; nor was he letting a bunch of eggheads get in there and start experi on the ’ zotz Especially not this close to the zero date

The secrecy, too, was prograenetic code

"They need to be exterminated," he said, "not studied"

She nodded slowly, her eyes going shadowed "So what happens now?"

The question hung in the air, taking on ed back his water, stalling while his desire to get her the hell out of harainst other, far more selfish needs He’d partway blown his cover by ad into her But he couldn’t blow the rest of it, not even for her

That wasn’t just because of the secrecy bred into his bones, either It was a kindness It wouldn’t be fair to warn hu for the 2012 dooi ere supposed to protect the earth plane were gone, killed twenty-soo by their despot leader

He couldn’t-- wouldn’t--do that

Go ho , he wanted to tell her It’s better this way But he couldn’t tell her that without telling her the rest, so instead he said, "Your tea for you at the embassy From there, you can either head up to the States, or back out into the field"

"I take it we’re not welcome here anymore" It wasn’t a question More, she didn’t mention their breakup Instead, she sat there with her pointed chin tilted slightly, as if to say that if he wasn’t going to say anything about their relationship, she sure as hell wasn’t

That should have been a relief

He grated, "I’ll want your word that you won’t come back, and that you won’t tell anybody about the ’ zotz"

Logic said he shouldn’t let her go, but as his other option? He didn’t have the power to wipe herher here, nothe option

There was no way he could deal with the ’ zotz with her around, distracting hi unreadable moved in her eyes, but she nodded "Okay If that’s the way you want it"

A hard pressure shifted in his chest "It’s not--shit" He couldn’t say what he wanted to, didn’t want to say what he ought to So he said nothing

She set her glass aside and slipped off the bed "I need a shower"

He closed his eyes "Yeah" There’s no point in wasting effort on could-have-beens, he reminded himself, but that didn’t take away the hollow ache