Are you Tallis? Or will I have a berserker at my back for the rest of the night?
You shouldnt want either.
I just want to know who or what Im dealing with. She paused and tilted her head. Wait, why wouldnt I want the other side of you? You and your gift saved my life.
Unpredictability.
I saw that, yes. But something deeper. Your voice . . . you didnt mean that.
Tallis made a halfhearted attempt to shake free of her gentle hold, but she held fast. A foreign part of him liked the idea that his skin was warming hers. Finally able to read my mind, goddess?
Youll know when I can, she said with a tart scowl. Tell me.
Or?
Or Ill ask Chandrani to forgo waiting for you to sleep. How would you use your gift without your legs?
He placed his hands over hers. Now she was the one gently trapped. She does everything you say?
She has a mind of her own, but shes devoted that mind to my safety.
Must be nice. A trained Amazon at your beck and call. Why didnt she find you in the tent?
Kavya pinched her lips together. Her eyes darted aside. I . . . I dont know. We havent talked about it.
Talk. The derision he felt toward her kind spiked. His rational anger was returning. You dont talk . Youre unnatural.
And youve nearly evaded my question. Dont believe that will ever happen. Other than the obvious, what do I have to fear from the berserker?
Tallis tightened his fingers around hers until she winced. He pulled her fists to his chest. I was able to evade your brothers psychic attacks because nothing logical remains when I go that deep. Just . . . He swallowed. What was this? Hed never been ashamed of his gift before. Something about this woman made him want to be more than a thoughtless Pendray cliché. I work by instinct and take on an animals compulsion to survive at all costs. And . . . to reproduce at all costs.
Confusion marred her soft brow. Were a dying race. We cant reproduce.
He pulled her closer. Their mouths could touch if he wanted that connection. Or if she did. That doesnt stop the animal from trying. A primal part of me wants you any way I can get you.
Kavya inhaled. The steady rhythm of her pulse at her wrists pumped with new force. She wasnt a fluttering butterfly beneath his fingers; she was a drummer pounding on a timpani.
Youd force me? My people have a long, disgusting history of forcing women. Id never known it was part of the Pendray tradition.
We fuck like animals, but not by force. He grinned at her look of blatant shocknostrils flaring, lips parting. In that way it seems we barbarians have one over your high-handed ways. Anyone who tried to assault a Pendray woman would be pursued to the ends of the earth by her family.
She snatched her hands free despite how firmly hed imprisoned the wrists abraded by hemp. I wouldnt know anything about that either. Family means danger.
So Ive seen.
You . . . you bit him.
I did. I like my seaxes too much to risk them against a Dragon-forged sword.
She straightened her shoulders. Thank you.
Her gratitude was a surprise. So was the moment she slowly lifted one flowing sleeve to his mouth and used the fabric to stroke his skin. The blood was sticky against the silk, grabbing at it. He must look like the beast hed unleashed.
Again, that galling sense of shame. He forced it aside, as the last of his primitive temper cooled. He wanted her discredited. That was a given now. Why was he having anything more to do with her? He could take her to the Council to stand trial. But what had she done? There was no proof that shed broken laws worthy of imprisonment in the high Fortress of the Chasm.
Staying with her had nothing to do with the way she cleaned his face.
Nothing.
Tallis batted her hands away. Dont try tricks that have worked in the past, goddess. Ive learned them, and I dont appreciate being condescended to.
Without waiting for her replytoo stricken by the hurt on her facehe followed the woman in armor. She was a third of the way down the mountainside. The Beas River carved a wide ravine that ran from the highest reaches of the Pir Panjal down to the Punjab Basin. They might camp soon, down among the river-fed trees. Or Tallis might leave soon. He continued moving for the sake of moving.
What if she really had meant to present those Leaders? What if theyd been ready to work toward ending the Indranan civil war?
Tallis was left to his thoughts. Yes, the Sun had fallen. Her reputation among her kind would never be restored. But what if his personal revenge had led to Pashkahs discovery of her presenceand to those murdered men? Would Kavya have been able to protect them had she been readying herself behind the altar, preparing to greet the cult with genuinely hopeful news?
No. She would be dead.
That knowledge was as clear as the river below, and just as chilly. No matter Talliss actions, she never wouldve taken to that altar except to kneel and die. Pashkah wouldve been nauseatingly satisfied and incomprehensibly powerful.
Tallis had saved her life. After all, he hadnt wanted the Sun dead. Only ruined. That sense of having accomplished his mission returned, yet it felt oddly hollow. He breathed deeply and exhaled so much tension. The morning would see his senses clear and his life restored.