Page 18 of Angel's Enemy Omega

“What do you eat, then?” Rhys says.

Nur bares his teeth. “Souls.”

Rhys’s mouth twitches. “Alright, then.”

“Aren’t you afraid?” Nur says to him.

Rhys only shrugs. “If Irvin let you stay, you aren’t gonna eatmysoul. Anyway, the world is messed up all over. I’ve never met someone who only eats souls, but I have met a dozen kids who were born sick and died sicker. I’ll guess you didn’t ask to be stuck eating souls instead of real food.” He puts one of the misshapen sweets in his mouth with a grin. “Just means I get to eat both of these.”

Something strung tight inside Nur unwinds just a hair, and it feels oh so dangerous. He turns away, discomfited.

He’s glad when Arsene finds him and drags him away from the humans.

Chapter 11

ARSENE

Arsene is relievedto take the first watch and get away from the tumult of camp. His head’s been clouded since he came back from digging holes to find the hollow nestled among the humans like a wisp of smoke in the grass. Nur maintains that he told the doctor nothing, and maybe he did keep his mouth shut. It should satisfy Arsene. Yet something pricks at him when he spots Nur sitting next to the young human boy, Rhys, at ease.

It can’t be jealousy—who would he be jealous of? He doesn’t care about the attention of the humans, and certainly not Nur.

When Arsene’s watch is done, only stragglers and dogs are left by the low fire. The tent he’s supposed to split with Nur is set off toward the back of the camp, away from the rest. He opens the flap only to be washed in the hollow’s strange scent, and all of his hard-won composure evaporates.

Nur is awake and sitting upright on Arsene’s bedroll. He’s dressed in human clothes, dark, clean, and fitted, and in one hand he holds a pair of scissors with which he’s cutting locks of his matted hair out. Long sections of it are already strewn across the bed. The sight renders Arsene momentarily speechless.

Whether he’s annoyed or experiencing some other, more dire emotion, he can’t tell.

“It’s your watch.” Arsene stands outside, half bowing to see inside the claustrophobic space. Not a chance he’s going inside.

Nur puts the scissors down. “What do I do?”

“You watch.” He lifts a brow. “It’s easy to see danger coming on the plain. And if something happens, or someone attacks, you handle it.”

“I want to be fed.”

There’s no way he has energy for that. “Later.”

“It’s our deal.” A crease appears between Nur’s brows. “Please.”

He groans. Thepleasepulls on the place inside him he’s already identified as their cursed bond. “Later. I’m too tired.”

Nur gets to his feet and brushes past him, but instead of warmth where they touch a chill trickles into Arsene.

“Wait.” Arsene catches his arm.

Nur goes rigid under his hand. “Let go.”

“Did the doctor tend to this?” He pulls back Nur’s cowl.

The streaks and the ugly mottled infection have faded. The area is sealed over with new skin, reddish but clean. Arsene stares.

Nur pulls out of his grip roughly. “Like I said. I don’t need a doctor. It was hardly a scratch, anyway.”

“I know what I saw. It was in a bad state. The kind of wound someone could die from.”

“I’m all better now, thanks to you.” Nur’s lip curls back to show one tooth, a quirk Arsene finds horribly appealing. He wants to press his thumb into that soft lip and find out how it gives.

Nur turns and disappears into the dark before he can do something stupid.

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