Page 10 of Saint

“Obviously.” He wanted to mend things between the four of them, sure, but that didn’t mean his competitive streak with the future emperor needed to take the backseat. “You both need to understand the severity of what you’ve done.”

“Coming from the guy who loses his cool more than any of us, that’s rather ironic.” Yejun took a few sips from his glass, going slower this time. A good sign. “Since Lake is busy mendingfences, I guess we’ll just have to go over what I found out at the hospital ourselves.”

“Did Beck stay with you?” West couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah.” Yejun gave him a funny look. “You should find time to talk to him.”

He quirked a brow. “About what?”

Yejun shrugged cryptically.

Great, had Beck finally confessed to him? If Yejun had broken the poor guy's heart, was he now trying to use West to smooth things over? They needed Lake’s cousin to continue being on their side, like he’d always been. It was useful having a family member in their corner, especially when Beck’s father was constantly trying to get in their way.

“Whatever.” He’d deal with that potential shit show later. “What did the doctor say? Was it a suicide or not?”

“No foul play suspected,” Yejun said. “He didn’t have anything in his system, and the location of his injuries lines up with someone who’d have jumped from those heights. Dew killed himself. The only question is, did he do it to escape us or someone else?”

“Both would be my guess.” It was certainly Nix’s, and West trusted their fourth’s opinion. “We found those emails between him and Hendrix, but there’s nothing we can do about them.” They were written in code to seem innocent, and even though someone of Hendrix’s status talking about baked goods with a student would seem strange, it wasn’t enough to have the Order turn against him. “If we tip our hand and try something too early, we risk this blowing up in our faces. I’m going to keep seeking out the truth, but it can’t be our main focus at the moment.”

“Because of Nightshade?” Yejun shook his head. “We were given until Demons Passing to find the hacker.”

“We both know there is no hacker,” West pointed out. “Which means the deeper into this we get publicly, the more risky it becomes. The last thing we need is the Order discovering what really went down that weekend and who was actually responsible for planting those devices in Hendrix’s office.”

Forget about all that. If it was discovered someone had used the same poison that had murdered the emperor on West, and they’d kept that a secret, they’d all be tried for treason. Didn’t matter who Lake or the rest of them were.

“The whole reason we hid it in the first place was to protect us,” West reminded. “We can’t drop the ball now. We’re close, but close isn’t the finish line.”

“Stop talking like we’re discussing sports,” Yejun grunted. “I get it. We hand over the information collected on Dew and pin him as the hacker. If he’s the only one responsible, no one else will bother looking further into things.”

“Exactly. And while they’re busy preparing for Lake’s ascension, we can focus on tracking the real threat down. He’s been quiet since his failed attempt with Iris, but that doesn’t mean he’s given up. It’s safer for us to assume he’s lying low and licking his wounds. His next appearance might be just as bad as the last time.”

“We should start checking all consumables for poison,” Yejun suggested.

They’d been more careful, not allowing anyone to enter the Roost, checking to make sure all of their products were sealed before they ate or drank it. If the goal of this person was to mess with the line of ascension, passing the Order’s test and ensuring Lake’s place on that line would no doubt draw their attacker out once more.

“He’ll show himself soon,” West said. “Probably before Demons Passing. He’ll want to stop Lake at all costs.” Hell, thisperson had already killed the emperor to get her out of the way. They were committed. “Hendrix has to be behind this.”

“He’s the only puppet master I can think of,” Yejun agreed solemnly. “There’s no one else who would benefit from Lake’s removal. But we’ve been saying that since the beginning, and it hasn’t brought us any closer to finding any evidence. When was the last time you even saw him?”

West thought it over, frowning when he realized it’d actually been a while. “He hasn’t been at the Club House when I’ve been. The last meeting they called us to, he was absent as well.”

“Maybe Lake has heard from him.”

“Or you could always just ask Beck.”

Yejun smirked. “Oryou could.”

West’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to foist me onto Beck all of a sudden? Don’t tell me you’re hoping to get rid of me so you’ll have time with Nix?”

Nix wasn’t ready to be alone with Yejun, but West kept himself from saying as much. There was enough going on to keep them all fairly busy, so if Nix wanted to avoid June, he’d find a way to do it with or without West’s help.

“Whatever,” Yejun rolled his eyes. “I’ll text him, happy? But you’ve got to do me a favor.”

“I’m not helping—”

“It doesn’t have to do with the Firebird,” Yejun cut him off. “I know I’m on my own with that. But what I want won’t exactly please him so…if we could keep it between us for now, that would be great.”

That didn’t sound good.

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