Free Tempted by P.C. Cast Page A

beak opened as if he was going to say something. At that moment a shudder rippled through his body. Instead of speaking, he closed his eyes tightly and moaned. The sound was filled with an agony that was completely human.
    Automatically she took a step toward him. His eyes reopened and, even though they were glazed with pain, she could see his scarlet gaze was focused on her. Stevie Rae stopped and spoke slowly and distinctly. “Okay, here’s the deal. I brought water and stuff to bandage you up with, but I’m not really cool with coming over there by you unless you give me your word you won’t try anything I’m not gonna like.”
    This time Stevie Rae was sure the emotion she saw within the red of those human eyes was surprise.
    “I cannot move.” His words were halting, and it was an obvious effort for him to speak at all.
    “Does that mean I have your word you won’t bite me or do anything else that’s not very nice?”
    “Yesssss.”
    His voice had gone all guttural and the word ended in a hiss, which Stevie Rae didn’t find at all reassuring. Still, she straightened her spine and nodded like he hadn’t just sounded like a snake. “Well. Good. Okay, let’s see what I can do to make ya feel better.”
    Then, before she could talk some sense into her own dang head, she walked right up to the Raven Mocker. She plopped the towels and the moss on the ground beside him, and set the water bucket down more carefully. He really was big. She’d forgotten that. Well, maybe it was more like she’d blocked it from her memory, because “forgetting” his size was pretty hard. It hadn’t been exactly easy to drag/carry him into this shed before Erik or Dallas or Heath or
anyone
had seen her, even though he’d been weirdly light for how heavy he looked.
    “Water.” The word was almost a croak.
    “Oh, yeah, sure!” Stevie Rae jumped and then fumbled with the handle of the dipper. It fell on the floor, and as embarrassed as she was frazzled, she dropped it again—had to pick it up, wipe it on a towel, and then finally dip it into the water. She moved closer to him. He stirred weakly, obviously trying to raise an arm, but the attempt caused him to moan again and his arm seemed to only be able to hang at his side, as useless as his broken wing. Not pausing to think about what she was doing, Stevie Rae bent, lifted his shoulders gently, tilted his head back, and held the dipper to his beak. He drank thirstily.
    When he’d had his fill, she helped him lie back, but not until she’d put one of the towels under his head.
    “Okay, I don’t have anything to clean you up with except water, but I’ll do my best. Oh, and I brought some strips of moss. If I pack your wounds with them, they’ll help.” She didn’t bother to explain that she really didn’t know how she knew the moss was good for his wounds—it was just one of the snatches of information she’d get from time to time—out of nowhere. One second she wouldn’t have a clue about something. The next she’d be sure of how to, well, plug up a wound, for instance. She wanted to believe it was Nyx whispering to her, like the Goddess whispered to Zoey, but the truth was, Stevie Rae didn’t know for sure. “Just keep choosing good over evil . . .” she muttered to herself as she started to tear one of the towels into strips.
    The Raven Mocker’s eyes opened and he looked questioningly at her.
    “Oh, don’t mind me. I talk to myself. Even when I’m not alone. It’s kinda like my own version of therapy.” She paused and met his gaze. “This is gonna hurt. I mean, I’ll try to be careful and all, but you’re pretty messed up.”
    “Go ahead,” he said in that pain-filled whispery voice that sounded too human to be coming from such an inhuman-looking creature.
    “Alright, well, here goes.” Stevie Rae worked as quickly and as gently as possible. The hole in his chest was terrible. She flushed itwith water and picked off as much of the twigs and crap