As he stared up into her face, some of the shadows seemed to vanish from his expression. He shook his head. “The first time I danced with the dreamfire I was a child. When the dreamfire responded to me, I was … happy.” He shrugged. “But I didn’t know what having the amata gift meant. I know better now. There’s no joy in the rites for me. But I’m glad …” He paused, then said, “I’m glad they comfort you. You look … different, when you dance.”

“How do I look?” Mehr asked.

Amun looked at her face like he was reading it, like her expression was ink and her skin the page it lay upon.

“You look strong,” he told her. “You look sure of yourself.”

“I haven’t been as strong as I’d like,” Mehr admitted, sitting down beside him. “I wanted to lash out at you yesterday. You gave me what I wanted, but more than anything, I wanted the truth to go away. I apologize.”

“Don’t,” Amun said instantly. “I expected you to be angry. Who else can you be angry with? I would have preferred it if you had lashed out at me, Mehr. Instead you were silent.” He huffed out a breath. “I wish you hadn’t been silent.”

“Sometimes it’s wise to be silent.” Surely Amun, of all people, knew that. He was always silent around the mystics. With the Maha, he had shaped his words carefully, artfully. “I would have been cruel to you. Cruel without reason. I didn’t want to be.”

“I didn’t know how to help you,” he said.

Mehr felt an unfamiliar tenderness well up in her, looking at the stubborn shape of his jaw, his hands clenched over his bent knees.

“Oh, Amun,” she said gently. “You couldn’t have helped me. But next time I’m upset, I promise to shout at you. Is that fair?”

He shot her a sidelong glare that spoke far more loudly than words. Mehr smiled back.

“Mehr,” he said. His voice was halting. “What I told you last night. If you have any questions …”

Her insides were tight, panic unfurling in her heart again. She took a deep breath. “I can’t talk about this yet.”

He murmured an acknowledgment. Then he said, “Tell me about your old home. Tell me what it was like to dance in Jah Irinah.”