Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth against the agony and the screams that pressed up my throat and gripped the fiery paw harder. For several seconds, nothing happened, and I began to wonder if Azriel was right. Maybe Tao was lost and I was burning my hand for absolutely no reason. Then, suddenly, my fingers were touching flesh rather than heat. I opened my eyes. The flames were receding—grudgingly, but retreating nevertheless—from the point where my fingers clasped Tao's hand. His fingers twitched, then convulsed around mine, his grip fierce. It hurt like hell, but I didn't say anything, biting my lip and blinking back tears as the flames continued to retreat, first up his arm and then across his shoulders, revealing his head and upper body.
Amaya, release him.
No; want.
Do it, I said. Now!
She hissed her displeasure, but her flames unfurled from Tao's waist and dropped to the ground, slinking back to her blade with some reluctance.
As the remaining flames flickered and died, Tao opened his eyes and blinked. Then awareness surged, and horror spread across his pale, thin face.
"Oh god, Ris," he said, voice hoarse and raw. "What have I done?"
I quickly sheathed Amaya and tried not to think about the agony radiating from my left hand—a hard thing to do given it was so bad, all I wanted to do was throw up. "Nothing that can't be—"
I cut the rest of the sentence off as he collapsed, and I lunged forward to catch him. Azriel got there before me. He slung Tao like a sack over his shoulder, then swung around to face me.
"Your hand—"
"I can heal it when I change to Aedh form," I said, barely resisting the urge to cradle my hand and weep like hell. "Let's just get Tao home and worry about me later."
Azriel didn't look at all happy, but he merely nodded and disappeared from sight. I took a deep breath and glanced at my hand. Bad mistake. All I saw was a raw and swollen mess, and the pain—which had been bad enough up until that point—became overwhelming. A chill swept me, I began to shake, and my legs went from underneath me. But even as I hit the ground, my stomach rose, and I threw up.
Then Azriel was there, holding me, supporting me. The heat of his presence fanned through my body; a warmth and strength chased the weakness from my flesh and snatched the pain from my burned and blistered hand.
Eventually, I pulled away and glanced down. Though it was still red and tender, my hand was no longer blistered or weeping, and I could flex my fingers without pain. My gaze rose to Azriel's. "Thank you for healing me."
"I'm glad that I could." He brushed the sweaty strands of hair from my eyes, but despite the tenderness of his touch, there was anger in his expression. "You should not have endangered yourself that way, Risa. It could have ended very differently."