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“Now will you bring us to the caravan?” Nur says. He’s gratified that Nur’s voice is as rough as he feels.
“Fine. I’ll take you.” The girl turns without another word and heads into the ruins.
Arsene grabs his pack and hurries after her. Nur’s chuckle chases him across the sand. If he succeeds, will he have this thorny, delightful creature forever? The idea terrifies and thrills him.
Chapter 38
NUR
The city feels like death.Not in a literal sense—Nur can sense the nearby tingle of living peoples’ souls, more than he expected, in fact. But its emptiness is cavernous, an echo of his own emptiness. A feeling he’d left behind for the few perfect days of his heat.
The day he met Arsene, he was barely a few steps from the aether. Now the aether is at arm’s length, but it still waits in the back of his mind. This place is the same. Death lurks in the ruins, the kind of presence that could drive anyone mad before too long.
Arsene trails behind, playing captive. His emotions are a jumble. Nur savors his confusion, guilty but also greedy for more.
Did he really kneel for me?As always, Arsene is a walking contradiction. Sharp but vulnerable. Selfish but giving.
Re-entering the human world together feels fraught, as if their bond hangs in the balance, and his bones hum with premonition.
The empty city lifts out of the earth around them. Single curiosities jutting from the sand become rows of buildings bearing each other up, their guts exposed and mouths gaping.The girl leads them on a twisting route, through tunnels of decaying steel and over misshapen dunes. She pauses occasionally and looks back at them. Exhausted from their nonstop journey, Nur trails far back. Arsene is even slower—his weakness is tangible.
The sun skirts the horizon when the girl turns to yell, “Very close now!”
She disappears into a nearby building, and Nur stops to catch his breath. Before he can follow her inside Arsene is at his side, a hand on his elbow. Something about the touch feels uncertain. Arsene’s brow furrows as Nur turns to him.
“Remember you’re mine.” Arsene pulls him in closer.
“I thought you weremyprisoner?” he says with a smirk, but Arsene doesn’t smile.
“Just remember,” he says.
He searches Arsene’s eyes. Their jewelled depths reveal his every emotion, as they always do. Pride. Determination. But also fear. Nur’s heart thumps.
“I will.”
Through the empty building and around the corner, crowded ruins open into a flat, sandy plaza. The caravan is nestled between two structures, the wagons stored to one side and tents erected in the shadow of the building, out of the wind. Smoke rises from the middle of camp. The dogs bark and voices rise. Behind him, Arsene breathes a sigh of relief.
The girl runs ahead, whooping. Some of the older children emerge from the tent site, yelling and waving with easy familiarity—they must already know each other. The girl is folded into the camp quickly, forgetting about her tagalongs. Nur’s own relief at seeing the caravan is overwhelming, and Arsene gives him a knowing look.
“You’ve grown fond of humans.”
“So what if I have?” he replies stiffly.
Arsene shakes his head. “Our worlds are too different for friendships that cross borders.”
Nur is glad when shouting interrupts them.
This time around, the bustle of camp is a warm welcome. He’s glad to be back, no matter what stock he puts in Arsene’s claim. He likes how the humans treat him as if he’s an equal. He likes their culture, and how they share it. He’ll always carry the scars of his past, but sometimes when he’s among them he forgets and that’s a gift.
As soon as they enter camp they’re separated. Arsene is dragged off to discuss the end of his contract with the committee, which Nur tries not to think about. And Nur is accosted by Rhys.
“You made it!” Rhys grabs him, half laughing. “I knew you would.”
It’s so strange to be touched by someone other than Arsene, and he barely manages to pat Rhys’s shoulders in return. “Thanks to your map.”
“You’re alright?” Rhys asks earnestly, pulling back to look him over.
He looks for Arsene instinctively. His mate has already been pulled into deep conversation with the committee, but when he senses Nur’s gaze he looks up. Their eyes meet.
