Well, technically speaking Joscelin's gods were angels... but that wasn't important. Joscelin took a breath, ragged and painful, as Jim bit his neck. It nearly broke through his control again, but not quite. So close. He shoved himself away from the wall this time, stepping to the side to avoid James's surge. It hadn't been hard to see what was coming, what the man was trying to do. "Better than you have tried."

The memory of Melisande Shahrizai came unbidden, surging up like James had. He remembered the time she had touched him, when one finger down his chest had done as much to his control as all of James's attempts, and he smiled rather viciously. He had faced worse than this man, as unpleasant as he was. "Save your dignity. You will have nothing of me."