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They’d even stitched him up and tended his feverish, sweat-drenched body for three solid days

He would have healed sooner if he’d won the fight with A boy But he hadn’t

He’d lost And so his pain had been nified a thousandfold, and he’d been too weak to do a da!

Noas stil bed-bound and propped against pil ows, but at least he ake and aware His demon was silent, too afraid to poke his head froe until they’d recuperated sufficiently

Torin sat in a chair in the far corner, and Zacharel, the black-haired angel Lysander had left in charge, leaned against one of thehiuy not suffer in peace?

This room was supposed to be his sanctuary, his private escape, but he’d opened his eyes a little while ago to find Torin pacing beside him--and not out of concern, the curious bastard Zacharel had been exactly as he was now

Un

"What happened?" Zacharel asked His voice , al as shit the way Strider reacted to these angelic beings--but everything else about that voice was cold, uncaring, detached

Like his eyes A vivid jade-green, they should have been welco, should have reminded Strider of summer Or hel , even of Torin’s wicked sense of hu inside the abyss of emptiness

Strider had ht he’d seen everything, but this one…no There were none like hi he could stab the angel in the heart and Zacharel wouldon hatever he’d been doing

"Deain, and he didn’t raise his voice in the slightest

See?

Eods’ sake, Strider," Torin snapped "Open your da at the angel like he’s a tasty treat" Not so emotionless

Strider’s cheeks warmed with a flush He’d leave the tasty treat coy to come up with a decent response And no, Zacharel didn’t react to it

"I went to the girl’s room She wasn’t there, but I sahere she’d peeled back the wal paper and found an old doorway that led into Amun’s bedroom She barred it So I went to his door, but she’d barred it, too That one I kicked in" And he’d expected to find Amun headless Or, at the very least, Haidee under the dark influence of Ae he’d felt at the prospect…the despair And yet, neither had compared to the jealousy he’d experienced when he’d discovered the truth A jealousy that had shamed him One, he couldn’t be attracted to Ex Two, Amun was his friend He should have sheltered him from the temptress’s wiles

"And?" Torin prompted, exasperated

"And he ake, lucid" At least for a little while Until Strider had approached the girl Then Aly, the black phantoone" He didn’t mention that Amun had been on top of Ex, with his hand down her pants, his face aflame with pleasure

Hers had been, too So ht the warrior She had encouraged hiht

Surely she had planned to lure Amun into a false sense of security and then strike

But when Strider had approached her, deter his friend, Amun had attacked him And when Strider had tried to defend himself, Ex had attacked him To aid Amun

What the fuck, man? He hadn’t understood at the tiot it Ex had wanted to leave with Amun Which meant she’d planned to take him to her Hunters so they could kil him

StilThat didn’t explain why Amun had defended her Why the warrior had touched her so inti tiether

And by "partied together" Strider uarded his back Amun didn’t sleep around, was usual y theas shit

The good kind of boring, though You knew you could rely on hi He was solid, a rock, and you always knehere you stood with hiuy Strider knew He would rather take a bul et himself than watch his friends take one Yet, to protect a murderous bitch, he’d attempted to splatter Strider’s brains al over his bedroonized her Hel , would anyone?

Centuries had passed, she no longer looked like an innocentwarrior’s aid, and as many freaky places as they’d been, they’d rown her head hta kinda sorta have also prevented his friends frolad she hadn’t been recognized The stupid part of hi the woman

You planned to sic Sabin on her Remember?

Yes And maybe he would have done it Maybe not

Strider hadn’t even told Torin her true identity yet He didn’t knohy He’d only said she was a Hunter and had left it at that