Plain black. Neutral. For a people united.

No longer. She was going to freeze to death, but not before she wrecked Tallis of Pendray.

“You ruined everything, and now you’re leaving? What in the Dragon’s name sort of man are you?”

He didn’t stop. His pace remained even, as if he hadn’t heard her at all—or worse, as if he would just ignore her indignation. She wasn’t used to being ignored. Arrogance or not, she wouldn’t let go of the right to speak her mind and be heard.

“Do you know what will happen now? You said you wanted to discredit me, that you didn’t want me martyred, but my brother knows me now. Knows my face and the patterns of my mind. There was no time to disguise my appearance. I can’t read you. I couldn’t read Chandrani because of your blow to her temple. In the chaos, I had no one else to draw from. I was bare-faced and he saw me. He saw all that he’ll need to hunt me down.”

Jogging the last few steps, she placed her feet carefully. Her ceremonial slippers wouldn’t last long on the slippery, muddy shoal. She grabbed his arm with more force than she thought she possessed.

Tallis jerked in a semicircle and clutched her neck—one fluid motion. “Do you court harm? Is that it?”

He squeezed until every fingertip found a pressure point. Black spots flitted against a night sky that wasn’t dark enough to compete with the oncoming loss of consciousness. Indranan were helpless when unconscious. They were susceptible to mental influences, or might let a Mask slip. Kavya hadn’t slept soundly or for long durations in years. For that reason and many others, she traveled with trusted people like Chandrani, just as they traveled with her. Kavya’s youth hadn’t offered any assurances. Sometimes she wondered how many of her memories were her own and how many had been left behind by predators who’d used her sleeping mind as a playground.

He tightened. She gagged.

And she kneed him in the crotch.

Tallis let go and stumbled back, cursing. “Is practicing that move a hobby among females?”

“Some old ways are still the best.” She rubbed her neck. Her voice was roughened. “Now answer this Dragon-damned question: What do you think will happen to the Sun Cult or whatever you outsiders call it if I’m murdered by my brother? Martyrdom isn’t the right word for it. I’d be sainted.”

“That won’t happen. Girls like those turncoats would make sure of it.”

“Turncoats, eh?” She threaded her fingers together at her waist and aligned her knuckles. Mountains and valleys. Calm. Breathe. “Does that mean you disagreed with their choice? Interesting.”

Tallis stood. She didn’t miss the way he shook his left leg, subtly, as if to protect his pride while easing the sting she’d inflicted. “Let’s pretend your brother parted your head from that delicious little body of yours. Then what? Just another case of sibling-on-sibling violence. There would always be the suspicions that you’d colluded in that bloodbath. The lure and the heavy. And then—an alliance broken down.”

Her teeth began to chatter just when she wanted to appear unrelenting. “ ‘Delicious little body’ is even more telling than calling those girls turncoats.”

“I already told you that I want you.”

They stared at each other. Tallis’s expression was generally so open as to be off-putting. He behaved with too many human mannerisms. But with that sentence, he closed off every readable emotion.

“Another slip.” She touched his cheek where night shadows made a stripe of dried blood look like dirt. “You’d meant to say something about animals or beasts or Pendray berserkers. You don’t want me.”

He took both shoulders in hand and pinched. His kiss crashed down on her. Lips were enemies—fighting, not working together for pleasure. Kavya found pleasure anyway. She was jarred soul-deep by the aggression of his embrace, with his arms crossed behind her back. She was thrilled by the shock. Telepaths were rarely shocked, which had made that afternoon all the more terrifying.

Some surprises weren’t terrifying until after the fact, when thought returned and she would regret enjoying his mouth on hers.

Later.

With more assurance, she took what he offered and made demands of her own. Tongue against roughly pebbled tongue. He nipped with his teeth—a reminder of the force contained within his lean fighter’s body. He was a beast in a man’s skin.

We fuck like animals.

She shuddered and accepted how he pulled her more tightly against his chest. He was warm. She needed his warmth. She needed this strangely numbing balm of pleasure. The eager tension of passion overruled every other emotion. All she knew was that Tallis held her.

He angled his head to claim better access to her mouth, then trailed hot, openmouthed kisses down her neck. He licked one of the parallel cuts, then the other. The heat of his tongue was replaced almost instantly by the cold whip of the wind. She shivered beneath that hot cold, hot cold. Every movement, whether feathering or forceful, said he would take her if she lay down on the ground.

It would hurt.

It would be madness.

It would be marvelous.

She moaned, but she couldn’t believe the sound came from her throat. He matched her primal desire with a growl of his own. He cupped the back of her head and returned to her mouth. The press of his lips and the welcome invasion of his tongue felt like he’d come home to her.

No.

She struggled. He wouldn’t let go. She pressed her hands against his chest and pushed. He kissed her deeper. Panic replaced pleasure. She struggled, fought—

Then bit his tongue.

He reared back. “Dragon damn it, woman.”

“I thought your kind never forced anyone. Besides, you’re not the only one who can bite.”

He wiped his mouth and grinned. “So I’ve learned. Adding some variety to our real-life encounters?”

“We’re back to you being a Pendray in the throes of some delusion. We’ve never met before this afternoon.”

“Oh no,” he said, tightness replacing his brief humor. “Don’t play coy now, goddess.”

“I rather liked when you used my real name. At least then I was a person, not some figment of a lost mind.”

“You made me lose my mind. That’s why I’m here, you witch.”

He stalked in a tight circle, then returned to face her. His skin was scented with blood. This man, for all his infuriating delusions, had saved her from Pashkah. That explained why she put up with his erratic moods and accusations. It couldn’t be because she hoped for more of what he’d done in the tent—binding her, tempting her. It couldn’t be because of moments like these, charged with expectation that balanced between ferocity and passion.

Moments that left her guessing.

She wanted all of it, but just a taste. She wanted it from a man who wouldn’t probe her thoughts while doing so, who couldn’t manipulate her while she took what she wanted from his body and he took what he wanted from hers.

She’d remained untouched for just that reason. Indranan men could not be trusted.

“Explain yourself,” she said. “Please. I might be able to alleviate whatever madness has led you to these extremes.”

“There’s nothing you could say that I’d believe.”

“Try me.”

Nothing passed between their minds. Kavya could only read the grim shadows that accentuated his straight nose, his tightly pursed lips, and the hollows of his eyes.

He bared his teeth before appearing to come to a decision. “You’re a manipulative seductress. For as long as I can remember, you’ve used dreams as a portal into my mind. You’ve directed my actions for decades, using every method possible—including visions of the Great Dragon so convincing that I’d swear I’ve looked our Creator in the eye. These kisses aren’t new to me, goddess. They’re as familiar as the pace of my feet on the ground. They’re a base attempt to divert me from the truth.”