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empath—the stronger the link—and the more the Aristo—enjoys ...” My fists
clenched and my words balled up into knots.
    Tiller waited. But neither Rex nor I continued. Tiller
shifted in his seat. Finally he peered at his screen and traced his finger
through a winged icon on it. “I’ve sent a copy of your report to the chief.” He
regarded me uneasily. “But unless this Aristo breaks a law, we can’t do much.”
    I nodded. It was up to them what they did with the warning.
But we had given it.
    We headed to the lobby after we left Tiller’s office, but I
stopped before we had walked even a few meters. “Rex, I’ll meet you at the inn.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing. I just forgot to tell Tiller something.”
    He touched my cheek. “Soz ...”
    “I’m all right. Really.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Yes. I’m fine.”
    He brushed a curl of hair out of my eyes. Then he spoke
gently. “I’ll see you later, yes?”
    Why was he looking at me with that strange, tender look? “Of
course.” It wasn’t like I was going anywhere.
    I found Tiller’s door still open. He was sitting on the edge
of his desk reading a book.
    “Tiller?” I said.
    He looked up, his pleased surprise lightening my mood like a
gust of cool air on a sweltering day. “Did you forget something?”
    “No.” I came over to him. “I thought you wanted me to come
back.”
    He winced. “Am I that easy to read?”
    I smiled. “Only to another empath.”
    “I was just thinking—” His voice gentled. “It took a lot for
you to do what you did, coming here like this.”
    “All we did was talk.”
    He spoke softly. “Something hurt you somehow, and our talk
stirred it up.”
    I stiffened. “I’m fine.”
    “I wanted to say thanks, that’s all.” Tiller pointed to the
notebook on his armchair. “And for that too. With a record of two high-ranking
Imperial military officers saying I’m an empath, I may be able to convince a
grant committee at the university to take me seriously, maybe even sponsor me
to get testing.”
    “Well. Good.” I didn’t know what else to say. I was used to
people going in the other direction when I came around. Thanks wasn’t a
word I’d had much experience dealing with.
    “Here.” Tiller handed me his book.
    I held it awkwardly, wondering what he wanted me to do with
it. The book was old style, bound in soft cloth the color of ivory, with
parchment pages inside instead of a holocomp screen. My translator gave the
title as Verses on a Windowpane, written in English.
    “It’s beautiful,” I said.
    He smiled. “Keep it. As a thank-you gift.”
    A gift? This Allied citizen who didn’t know me was giving me
a gift simply for talking to him. For some reason my eyes felt wet. Block, I
thought. But the psicon didn’t flash.
    Night was folding its cooling darkness around the city when
I headed back to the hotel. I took the speedwalks that bordered the streets,
avoiding the nervoplex. I didn’t want to feel what it would tell me about
myself. I already knew. I had lied to Rex and Tiller. I wasn’t fine. My mind
had started to reply that scene again, the one I so wanted to forget, the one
that had lived on in my nightmares for so many years.
    I had been walking along a dirt path that day on Tams ten
years ago, for all appearances a normal citizen going about my business. The
flycar hummed by me, then stopped and backed up. In slow motion, I saw it
happen again and again; Kryx Tarque, the Aristo governor of Tams, leaning out
to look at me, lifting his long finger while his lips formed words: That
one. I want that one.
    That one. Me. Sauscony Valdoria. He wanted that one.
    I ran. But there was no way even a Jagernaut could escape
six soldiers plus an armed Aristo in a flycar. When they caught me, I faced a
decision that still haunted my memories: Should I fight? I wanted to
hurt them the way I knew Tarque planned to hurt me. But it would give away my
military training. They would know they had