Blood Warrior

Maybe I’ve been paying you far too much attention, trying to make sense of a girl’s game of make-believe.” He opened the door and shouted over his shoulder. “You’re not beautiful enough to make it worth the effort, goddess.”

Kavya’s padded footsteps chased his down the stairs. “And you’re not so charming as you think, you lonayip bastard. Arrogant. Stubborn—”

“But not fearless. You want to end up like Nakul? Our bodies broken and burned at the bottom of a chasm, until you’re practically begging Pashkah to come take your head? Just my luck, he’d leave mine intact.”

“Not before he chewed a chunk of your arm off.”

“Bring it,” Tallis snarled.

He stalked through the pub, which was quieter at that late hour. From the small, almost primitive kitchen, he retrieved two loaves of bread, several hard sausages, cheese, and more bottles of water. Kavya stood in the doorway. He spun her, unzipped the pack, and shoved the provisions inside.

“That’s in case we live to see morning. I’ll be hungry.”

Kavya glared, which he could clearly see in the strange orange and silver light that emanated from the pub’s main room. Someone had banked the fire, but the snow added a sheen to every surface. “You’re optimistic all of a sudden.”

“You’re rubbing off on me,” he said dryly. “Or maybe it’s that a man like me has seen worse and survived worse. That I’ll live till morning is a given.”

“And me?”

“That depends on your brother and the state of your brain.” He glanced around as if the man might materialize out of the shadows. “I’d ask you to look for him, but I’d rather you stay pissed at me. Mind on me, goddess.”

He grabbed her upper arm and trudged out into the snow. The cold sucked air from his lungs and replaced it with the burn of ice. Kavya gasped a curse under her breath.

“Watch it. A woman shivering out in the open, remember? Let’s go back to arguing about airplanes and fiery crashes.”

To his surprise, Kavya yanked free of his hold and headed . . . south? The best he could figure, with direction as hard to discern as her swiveling moods—and how she made his moods swing from ecstatic to furious with just a few words.

Hate you.

“No, you don’t,” she called back through the wind.

Both of them stopped. She turned. They stared at each other through a snow that blew in flurries like cotton in a fan.

Tallis shook his head. “Well, well. So much for keeping clear of your tricks.”

—

Kavya couldn’t explain it any more than she could look away from accusatory blue eyes made black in the night shadows. A few errant streetlamps made the snow sparkle ominously, but that overhead light only deepened the dark hoods beneath his brows.

“No tricks.” She twisted her hair into a long rope and shoved it beneath the straps of the pack, out of the way of the wind. “I just think it’s the strongest thought you’ve had since we met. I dare you to say otherwise.”

“So you can hear psychic shouts now? I have plenty. One of them is keep the fuck out of my mind.”

She strode toward the airfield. The vehemence of his hatred remained an indelible imprint, like a brand in the folds of her brain. She didn’t want that. She shouldn’t care, but she didn’t want that at all.

The airfield wasn’t far. She made quick time, with a malevolent ally tailing every step. She could be distracted by him, but she didn’t want to hear his thoughts. Not ever again. He was a Pendray cretin. More than that, he was Tallis. She only just learned to read the truth of his words while cupping his cheeks and hearing the scratch that added emotion to his voice.

Being able to hear his thoughts was almost a disappointment. He’d be just like every other man.

But if she didn’t think about Tallis, she’d be assaulted again. Already she could feel the press and prod of a hateful, violent mind bearing down on hers. The moment she lost concentration, she would become her brother’s next victim. So she focused on the man whose bed she could’ve shared but hadn’t. Why hadn’t she?

It was a moment wasted.

Illuminated by industrial lights that trailed down the runway, the airfield looked like a grave waiting to be dug. Maybe it was panic driving her actions. Maybe it was the understanding that she’d rather take her chances against the elements than against Pashkah.

“I’ve faced him before, Kavya,” came Tallis’s call. “I can take him again.”

“And if he has reinforcements?”

“You could find out.”

“I won’t look for him!” She kept up her quick pace until she reached the hangar.

Tallis grabbed her hands just as she’d wrapped them around a rusted, icy padlock. “If he’s on his own, or close to it, then we stand our ground. If he has a dozen Black Guardsmen at his back, then we take our fool chances against the storm.”

“Can you fly?”

“Now you think to ask?” Unexpectedly, Tallis laughed. The storm had relented enough that she could hear him perfectly over the steady wind. “Yes, I can fly.” His laughing expression melted in a heartbeat. Angered resolve took its place. “But I’m not letting you back in my mind.”

Kavya stood toe-to-toe. Although she needed to arch her neck to look in his eyes, she didn’t feel the least intimidated. “If I find a way, I won’t need to ask permission and you won’t be able to stop me.”

He stilled. He touched her chin with frozen fingers. “You really are a witch.”

She’d never heard such disdain.

“Lucky for you, I am. I’ll look for him. Just to see which odds are better.”

“I’m guessing they’re an even split.”

“Shut up and hold my hands. I need something to physically ground me, in case he’s close enough to assault me. Slap me if you have to. Anything to pull me back to you.”

“Slapping you will not be a problem.”

Tallis snatched her hands in his and threaded their fingers. She looked down. Whether by conscious action or accident, he aligned their knuckles in even rows. Mountains and valleys. Perfectly spaced. Perfectly synchronized. Kavya blinked once in disbelief but quickly took the alignment as a sign—of what, she didn’t know, but it was calming and auspicious. That’s all she needed.

The snow gave way as she reached past her body, drawing on her gift to search for the black force that had been chasing her since the age of twelve. A gray fog swirled around her as if she were being swallowed by quicksand that was no less deadly for its gentleness. Somewhere outside of herself, she felt the solid grip of a man’s hands. They were cold. Hers were cold, too.

Tallis was too important to let go of. He was the first person she’d ever known who hadn’t treated her like a victim or a deity. No matter that he called her goddess, he challenged her at every turn—good and bad, stubborn or constructive. She liked it. She liked seeing him naked, and she liked that he held her hands.

The agony of scalding metal slid from the back of her neck to the base of her spice. She cried out, swung out, spun in circles—all with her thoughts. She fought the swirling gray quicksand to find her brother. He stood on the other side of a massive divide that spouted fire.

It’s what needs to happen, Kavya. He was as sober as she’d ever heard him. The Chasm isn’t fixed. The Dragon has summoned me to be the one to make it whole. Can’t you see? You’re as important to this calling as I am.

By being murdered.

By dying, yes.

She shuddered, then screamed as he lanced another sharp stab down her spinal column. Every nerve sizzled. I’m not going to die by your hand. I swear it.