Page 94 of Martyr

West blew a kiss at him and Nix rolled his eyes.

“What reasoning did she give for doing this?” Nix brought them back on track.

“She told him the goal was to ruin the Demon’s reputation so that Legacies were no longer given the power they’ve always had on campus. She thought she was helping him expose us, which would embarrass the Order enough they’d change the long-standing tradition of having Demons.”

“And Yejun bought that?” He was surprised. Considering how mad Yejun was and how much he blamed Iris for, the fact he’d also allowed her to leave without turning her in, and that he believed her story…

This was the same guy who only an hour ago had Nix pinned to a table. His muscles were still sore, and he was sitting in an attempt to save some face, but it wasn’t comfortable. The sun cream was helping, but with each passing minute, the more he came down from the adrenaline high, his body ached more and more.

Nix had been terrified Yejun would do something drastic like maim him—hell, even Yejun himself had threatened to break his fingers—but…Had he…inadvertently made things worse for himself than they had to be? If he hadn’t offered up sex, would Yejun had tossed him in a cell and tortured him the same way he’d apparently tortured his cousin?

Being kept awake for days was awful.

But it was a step up from being blinded or having his fingers broken.

At the first sign of trouble, Nix had instantly imagined the worst of Yejun, but—

“Good Fucking Light.” He dropped his head into a hand and laughed morosely.

“What’s wrong?” West asked.

“You guys have me so gone for you,” he admitted, so past the point of being embarrassed, he didn’t even hesitate, “I’m even making excuses to explain away his abusive behavior. This isn’t right, West. This isn’t the type of relationship I imagined myself being in with the person I chose to spend forever with.” Or, persons, as it were.

There was another part that was bothering him, and reminded of that, he lifted his head and scowled.

“Lake had absolutely no right to be angry with me at all. Sure, I didn’t tell him you and I had slept together, but that—”

“Lake knows?” West let out a low whistle. “Well shit.”

“He’s lied to me more than anyone,” Nix pointed out bitterly. “He has no right to complain when I’ve kept one thing from him!”

“I agree.” West held up both hands. “Relax, babe. I’m on your side here.”

“Bullshit.” Still, some of the anger left him and he sighed. “You’re not on anyone’s side.”

“That’s because I love all of you,” he didn’t bother trying to placate him further. “Now, can I finish with the story, or do you need to rant about how hypocritical Lake and June are a bit more?”

He huffed. “No. Go on.”

West wasn’t the one who needed to hear how Nix felt about that situation anyway. After this, Nix was going to have a serious talk with Lake—and Yejun. But maybe he’d wait for the latter to cool down before attempting a conversation with him.

“Iris might have lied about her relationship with the hacker,” West said, “but I still believe she didn’t know what was really going on. Because Lake was the next of kin, he was able to get the body privately taken care of. The planet was told about the Emperor’s illness since there was no way around that, as it’d been observed by members of the court for a couple of days leading up to her death, but Lake was able to keep the cause from leaking. The medical examiner found traces of the same poison in both the Emperor and me. Proof the same substance was being used. From there, it was fairly simple to deduce the true motive behind the hacker, and how they were using Iris to make it a reality.”

So when they’d referred to this hacker as a coward and accused him of using Iris, they’d meant that, at least.

Nix could see where this was going. “The real plan was to kill you as well, by the same means, and have that information get out to the public. Iris would either be used as a patsy, or all of the blame would be pinned on Yejun.”

“Since Iris wouldn’t have access to the palace and Yejun visited frequently,” West confirmed, “it’s more likely he was the target. Whether I found out and tried to stop him, accidentally consumed the poison unbeknownst to him, or got in the way is unclear. Take your pick. They all would have resulted in the same end.”

“Yejun accused of treason in order to pave the way for Lake’s ascension.” Nix rubbed at his forehead, tension brewing. “Lake’s word couldn’t be trusted since he had the most to gain, and you’d be gone so…”

“Yejun wouldn’t have anyone other than his parents in his corner, and they would have turned on him the second it seemed like there was a chance the family name would be smeared.”

Nix blinked. “What? They’d go that far?”

“They’re close…ish. Remember? So long as Yejun continues to be the prodigal son and makes waves in the art world, he’ll continue to garner their love and respect. But the second he stops? They’ll ditch him faster than my father can overlook me in an empty room.”

Nix hadn’t realized, and he’d spent over a month with them. Which meant…

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