Page 98 of Martyr

“What? No, that’s hilarious. No. But I did fib about why I came to this university.” This was what he and West had agreedon, and had even been his suggestion, but a part of him still wasn’t sure if it was the right move.

If exposing Branwen was a good thing, or would simply drive the wedge formed between them—and him and Briant—deeper. But…

Branwen had made her choice.

Now it was Nix’s turn.

“Have you heard of Iris Cherith? She was my cousin also. The one everyone saw fighting with Yejun in front of the Roost is Briant, her older brother. Turns out she told him some things and when he heard I’d transferred, he came to convince me to leave.”

“What?” Khloe covered her mouth. “You’re related to Iris?”

“She always kept to herself, but she seemed cool whenever we had art classes together,” Dew said. “How is she?”

“Dead.” Nix sipped at his soda as another round of gasps resounded. “Turns out she was manipulated by the same person the Demons are after. Once I explained to Briant I’m not being used by them, he agreed to tell them everything he knew about Iris’s situation. Lucky for us, that happened to be quite a bit since he’d recently found her diary.”

“Wait, but wasn’t she kicked out of school by Yejun?” Dew asked.

“He didn’t know the full story then,” Nix stated. “Now he does.”

“How much did Iris write about?” Grady seemed legitimately curious.

“Pretty much everything. But her diary is written in a code from when we were kids, so only Briant and I know how to read it. Pretty extra, but she probably did that on purpose knowing she was involved with dangerous people.”

“You had a code?” Khloe chuckled. “That’s kind of adorable.”

“It wasn’t anything fancy,” Nix said. “Just stupid kid stuff.”

“Where’s the diary now?”

“I have it.”

“Shouldn’t you be, like,” Dew quirked a brow, “at the Roost deciphering it for them then?”

“Nah, I wrote a program that’ll do that for me. West is running it now.”

“They’re just trusting that you’re being honest about the code?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Everyone had been so caught up with Nix’s story, they hadn’t noticed Lake entering the cafeteria. He was standing behind Nix already, and dropped a hand to his shoulder as he spoke. “Nix has never given us reason not to trust him. He’s always been loyal.”

He bristled slightly at Lake’s presence but caught himself quickly enough to ease his shoulders back into a relaxed pose, that smile slipping back into place. “Why wouldn’t I be? You’ve never done anything to make me want to turn on you.”

“What about that?” Grady motioned to the side of his neck, expression tight.

“Oh,” Nix pressed a palm over the scar on his throat, “this? He offered to do it, and I said yes. That’s all.”

“He…” Dew seemed the most surprised, “offered?”

“Yup.”

“To give you a claiming mark?”

“Why?” Lake’s eyes narrowed. “Does that seem so unbelievable?”

“We’re tied together now,” Nix slapped a hand over the one Lake still had on his shoulder and patted him with a little more force than necessary.

“Yes,” Lake agreed. “My reputation is his reputation and vice versa. Which means I hope you’ll all continue to treat him with respect.”

“Do you?” Grady challenged.

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