Angel Arias Read Online Free Page A

nothing more than a frossing prison. I’d prefer to be on Ixion.’
    ‘Then you’re even more stupid than you look,’ said Charlonge.
    She turned and grabbed Markes’s arm and towed him towards Mesree.
    Naif kept her focus on Rajka.
    ‘Ixion’s not the answer,’ she said to him as Charlonge and Markes joined the queue. ‘Not for any of us.’
    ‘Naif,’ called Charlonge. ‘Come.’
    Naif gave Rajka one last look. She knew that Ruzalia had not quelled him. There would be more trouble.
    She joined Charlonge and Markes in the line. Markes held a kerchief to his neck where the blade had pressed. A shallow cut, but a cut nonetheless. He looked rattled.
    Up ahead, Mesree bellowed clean-up instructions as she slammed hot cakes on plates. Those on kitchen duty had been dispensed to pick up chairs and mop the spills.
    Rajka and his group left the hall, ignoring her call for them to pitch in and help.
    ‘What did you say to him?’ Charlonge whispered.
    Naif shrugged. ‘The truth. But he won’t listen. Char, I’m worried. Others have knives too. I’ve been watching them.’
    ‘Do you think Ruzalia knows?’ she replied. ‘Should we tell her?’
    ‘Shhh,’ said Markes.
    People in the line were staring at them, and those closest seemed to be straining to hear their conversation. Though the tension in the room had eased there was still an air of watchfulness.
    None of them spoke again until they reached the servery table. Markes took his plate first and held it out.
    ‘You all right, young ’un?’ asked Mesree. The cook was as wide as she was tall, with beefy arms that showed she tended to muscle rather than fat. Her face was broad and her eyes deep-set, making her expression hard to read. She reached across the table and grabbed his shoulder to pull him forward so she could peer at his neck. ‘Come and see me at the infirmary later if that cut you got don’t stop bleeding.’
    He nodded and she resumed her serving pose, slapping extra food on his plate.
    Charlonge collected hers next.
    When it was Naif’s turn, Mesree gave her a sharp look. ‘You know that boy?’
    ‘Rajka?’ Naif shook her head. ‘Never spoken to him before.’
    ‘Keep it to that then. He’s one to stir trouble. Stick with your friends.’
    Naif didn’t need the warning but she nodded her appreciation for the cook’s concern.
    This time the three took their food to the back corner of the dining hall.
    ‘Charlonge,’ called a pretty girl with long curly hair at the last table next to the wall. ‘Come and sit here.’
    The girl nudged her friends so that they’d shift along the bench seats and make room.
    Charlonge glanced at Naif and gave a tiny nod. Naif went to sit down but the girl stalled her.
    ‘Boys first,’ she said. ‘And what’s your name, other than divine ?’
    Markes realised she was speaking to him and blushed. He stood there awkwardly but she grabbed his arm and pulled him down.
    ‘Be nice, Riss.’ Charlonge’s tone was disapproving as she sat on the other side of Markes.
    That only left a space next to the boy on the other side of the table. Naif had noticed him before. He was attractive, with messy brown hair and dark skin, but something about his smile was empty. She’d seen that in a few of them; the pods and beads they’d consumed on Ixion had stolen something from their personality.
    ‘Sit,’ said the boy, patting the space next to him. ‘I don’t bite.’
    ‘Only after parties,’ said Riss.
    The other girls groaned but he looked pleased.
    Naif bent her head to her plate, hoping to get through her food quickly and go back to her room.
    ‘That Rajka’s an idiot,’ said Riss. ‘We would have died on Ixion. At least here we have a little longer. Shotz and I got away in the airship only a little while back. Someone was taken by the Night Creatures while we were being lifted.’
    ‘Yeah, we saw it as we went up on the gantry thing. He was ripped in half. His guts came out,’ said the boy next to