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A corner of Xen’s mouth lifted.

Before an answer made it out of his mouth, a few troubled voices distracted Evan. As they walked closer to the riverbank,four figures came into view: two girls crouched near the river and two guys pacing. They seemed young, perhaps in their late teens, dressed in modern, city-style attire. The anxiousness radiating from them was so thick it rushed into Evan with the force of a dump truck.

“I’m telling you we’re lost,” a girl with short pink hair complained.

“How can we be?” One of the guys frowned down at a rundown piece of paper in his hand that vaguely resembled a map. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “That old man said this was the way and to keep walking straight.”

“We have been walking for forty minutes.”

“What’s another ten?”

“I can’t feel my freaking legs—” Pink-head suddenly straightened and pointed in Evan’s direction. “There’s someone walking this way! Ask them.”

Evan let out a sigh. Strangers lingering near his house was not a good sign, was it?

The other girl from the group, in dark baggy pants and an oversized t-shirt, squinted through thick bangs covering her dark eyes. She gasped. “Evan Blackwood?”

That’s…not a good sign.

The group clearly wasn't from around town. There was no way they’d recognize Evan at first glance. Unless…his reputation had expanded its reach beyond the town’s perimeter.

As he contemplated turning around and heading back the way he came, he slowed his steps. As he did, someone bumped into him from behind. Clicking his tongue at Xen, Evan cursed under his breath.

Traveling on foot all day instead of in the luxury of Aaron’s car had tormented Evan. All he wanted was to go home and enjoy a nice heart-to-heart with Celie after not hearing her voice for solong. Well, at least not directly. Eavesdropping on Aaron and her phone calls didn’t count.

“Are you not going to help them?”

Evan jumped away in alarm as an unfamiliarly familiar voice spoke from behind him. The figure he’d been unconsciously leaning on wasn’t Xen. No, those brilliant silver locks and crystal blue eyes definitely didn’t belong to Xen.

That damned demon peasant had disappeared again.

“You…” Evan blinked furiously, partly annoyed and overall confused, wondering whether he was seeing things. “What are you—why areyouhere?”

Delos smiled, the intensity of it similar to that of a star bursting into Evan’s face. Too warm, overly fucking bright. And there was this strong scent of the river on him again.

“I came to visit you.”

Evan’s brows lowered as his confusion deepened. He wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. “I didn’t realize we were close enough to pay unexpected visits.”

We’ve only met once, for crying out loud.

Words held power. And Evan had not realized just how much till now, as he witnessed the light dim from Delos’s smile. The faint blush on his pale white skin vanished, and his face dropped. “Oh…”

Evan might’ve been a strong-willed man with an affinity to avoid human interactions, but no man was strong enough to endure watching Delos’s spirits wilt. His silver hair reminded Evan of Rue, which did not help his situation.

An ache stirred beneath Evan’s clavicle, and he cleared his throat, cheeks hot as he awkwardly offered an expired ointment to Delos’s fresh burns. “I-I was kidding.”

Seriously, Evan? He wouldn’t buy that bullshit.

Delos, in fact, bought his bullshit at full retail price.

His smile returned with double intensity, almost blinding Evan with the radiance. With a tilt of his head, he chirped, “Nice to meet you again, Evan!”

If not for the sake of withholding his tattered reputation, Evan would have clutched his chest and fallen to his knees because that was the cutest face he’d ever seen a human make.

And Evan didn’t even like humans, so that spoke volumes.

“Uh, excuse me?”