Page 5 of Martyr

“We need to go get that tended to,” Lake said, reaching down to grab the bag. He was quick about it, so Nix only had a second to remember the hidden shoes and fear them being seen before he was straightening and setting that cold gaze on him once more. “Is there anything else you want to grab while we’re here?”

“Are you serious?” He couldn’t be. “We’re so close to figuring it all out. Isn’t that what you wanted? Why would you stop me now of all—”

Lake reached out and grabbed him around the collar, yanking him close, hard enough that he slammed into his chest. “Are you asking that because you really don’t understand, or are you doing what your cousin supposedly did with Yejun?”

“What?” Nix was confused all over again. What did he— “Hold on. You’re not saying you think I was using Favors to gain your trust, are you? That’s ridiculous!”

“How so?”

“You’re serious?” Nix tried to shove himself away but Lake’s arm wrapped tightly around his waist, keeping him close despite his protests. “Lake I didn’t trick you into anything. Let’s look at the evidence, shall we? You’re the one who had me sign that damn contract even though I didn’t want to. And you’re the one who did this to my neck—” He snapped his mouth shut, refusing to continue.

“You spoke a lot of words just now,” Lake pointed out, “but you’re still refusing to speak those ones?”

“Let go.”

“I bit you,” he said, “so we both know that’s not going to happen. Not now, and certainly not after Demons Passing.”

Nix froze. “Lake. Please, don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Just…Don’t.”

“It’s already done, is it not?” He poked at the injury on Nix’s neck, laughing darkly when that caused him to hiss in pain. “Feels pretty real to me. You’ve been claimed, Songbird.”

Chapter 2:

Nix wasn’t sure how to respond to that immediately. Just when he’d started to finally make sense of things with Branwen, it seemed like things with Lake were falling apart and growing more complicated.

There was no reason he could think of for the Demon to be taking it this far. His acting out of anger was one thing, but right now…

Lake looked serious.

And that was frightening in a way Nix wasn’t aware was possible.

“Claiming marks are a barbaric and outdated practice,” he eventually said. “No court would ever side with someone who tried to make a mating claim based solely off of that.”

“If it was someone else’s mark, that would most likely be true,” Lake agreed.

“This isn’t funny. You’re taking it too far. You were pissed off about my relationship with the person you blame for hurting Yejun, I get it. We can both forget it and—”

Lake captured Nix’s chin and forced his head up so their eyes met. “Look at me very closely, Nix. Do I look like I’m joking?”

Before Nix could answer, Lake’s multi-slate went off. He breathed a sigh of relief when after a moment he was released, retreating a few steps to safety as he watched Lake answer the call.

“What the hell do you want now?” Lake practically snarled.

“Beck said something happened to Nix,” Yejun’s concerned voice came through the speaker. “He’s with you, right? Is he okay? Where are you two?”

“You were supposed to be fucking watching him,” Lake said angrily.

“He ran away before I—”

“We’re coming now.” Lake ended the call and then snatched Nix’s wrist, dragging him to the exit.

“Wait!” His hand went up to the wound on his neck in a poor attempt to try and cover it. Now that he’d been reminded it was there, and he’d recovered some from the shock of learning about Branwen’s secret life, the severity of the situation finally hit him. “We can’t just leave like this! People will see it!”

Lake opened the door hard enough it whacked loudly against the wall and then pulled Nix into the hall, storming past the few students who were in the process of entering and leaving their own dorms.

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