You hate your rage as much as you revel in it. Conviction strengthened her voice when she shouldve been speaking in whispers, if at all. Gifts come with tremendous benefits and terrible consequences. The humans have gained free will as theyve matured. Our kind claimed that right centuries before. That meant and still means deciding how best to use ones powers.
Fair point. You win. This is me exercising my free will.
He stalked away. Again.
Youre used to running, she called. Thats the solution to conflicts you cant resolve. Tell me Im wrong and Ill shout for Pashkah right now. Ill bring him down on our heads and well duke it out right here. Tell me Im wrong, Tallis, that you travel the world because you want to.
He stopped. Rather than reply or even turn, he bowed his headjust a fraction. He didnt contradict her, but neither did he agree. She couldnt have gone through with her threat, just like he couldnt have replied. Both were obvious.
She jogged to catch up to him. The hem of her sari was soaking wet and coated in mud.
A breeze touched her face when she stood at his back. That breeze smelled of cold and earth and waterand Tallis. The leather coat made him look bulkier, more intimidating, but she knew what lay beneath those layers. Could she say the same about the mind she hid under layers of Masks?
I know two things, she said quietly. First is that a berserker saved my life. No matter what you think of that side of yourself, or how you resist it, I wont forget what you did for me.
And the second thing? His voice was roughly seductive.
Kavya inhaled deeply and focused on the swatch of skin between his hairline and the coats collar. She wanted to touch him there. To survive against Pashkah, Im going to need your help.
CHAPTER 
NINE
The Valley of the Gods, Kavya said reverently. She stood beside him, her eyes both sharp and somehow unfocused. She seemed to absorb the energy of that scene in a way he would never understand. Perhaps the same would be true of him if he again stood on the Highland moors and looked down over the North Sea. His homeland.
This was hers.
Did the Indranan inspire the name?
Long ago, yes.
Before the fracture. We roamed throughout the mountains and down to the Indian Ocean. Later, the Northerners came up this pass and continued on to China. The Mongols were quick learners. Many Indranan stayed with them. The Khan mustve appreciated having telepaths among his number. She smiled softly. Historians get so much wrong.
Like Alexander and the Tigony, Tallis said, matching her small smile. Hed wanted to see the real one again, genuine and full of joy, but this would suffice. A subtle truce. The arrogant son of a bitch thought hed done it on his own. The Tigony are a vengeful lot, despite their airs. When he got too full of himself, they made sure his conquests came to an end. Period.
How do you know so much about the Tigony? Theyre like you saidfull of airs.
You cant imagine them telling war stories with a Pendray?
The clan that backed the Greeks and Romans, who tried to impose their beliefs on Pendray-backed victimsCelts and Norse and the like. Not the best recipe for heart-to-heart chats.
I have a Tigony friend in high places. Probably an understatement, considering that he referred to the Honorable Giva, the leader of the Dragon Kings elected Council. Then again, to call Malnefoley a friend was an exaggeration. They tolerated each other because of shared family connections. Distrust meant they would never be close unless their ambitions aligned. Basically, Tallis was bragging. Idiot . Lets just say my brother married a hundred times better than he deserved.
You? With secrets? Ill never recover from the shock.
With a chuckle, Tallis turned away from her profile. Now that he knew the difference between the Sun and Kavya . . .
She was flesh and blood.
Hed been infatuated with a vision. The best scenario was that the vision was of his own making, but that would mean shouldering the blame for the damage hed wrought. The worst case was that hed played puppet to the likes of Pashkah. What hed revealed in his dreams, what hed doneTallis didnt want to think of sharing that with a vengeful stranger.
Kavya was different. Out here in the wilds of the Pir Panjal, she was well away from her people. She couldnt read his mind. She was forced to be herself, and that was even more tempting than an image of perfection. He liked how he could unnerve her with his dry humor and even his silences. Hed needed to learn English sarcasm like another language, but it was useful when sparring with a woman who used thoughts more than speech.
His people, however, told stories. Huge, rambling, straightforward stories. Subtleties such as irony and sarcasm hadnt made sense. Tallis had arrived in England as an exile, completely unprepared for the cultural difference of a few hundred miles.
What about the Southerners? he asked.
What about them?
If you in the North managed to mingle with the Han and the Mongols, where did the Southerners go after the split?