Page 54 of Saint

“You’re possessive,” he corrected. “They aren’t the same. Yejun has no thoughts for himself when he sees someone hecares for get hurt. That’s why he’s so reactive and acts without thinking of the consequences. He lacks foresight because he gets overwhelmed by the need to defend and protect what’s his.”

“June doesn’t have very much that he can call his own,” Lake said. “His family is controlling, overbearing even. It’s good that he ended up loving art, because his path was chosen for him even before his birth. There are already half a dozen people lined up to become his potential husband or wife.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry. Yejun never intended to marry someone his parents picked for him. That’s part of the reason he wants me to become emperor so badly. We can tell them to fuck off without fear of repercussions.”

“Why can’t he just do that now?” As a Demon, his schooling was already taken care of, so it wasn’t like he needed them financially. Even if that wasn’t the case, Yejun made money selling his art. He’d shown Nix a receipt for a piece once and it was more than Nix’s parents made in six months combined. “What’s holding him back?”

“Me.”

Nix frowned.

“West and Yejun know that if they do anything to piss off the Order, of which Yejun’s mother is a member, it’ll reflect poorly on me as a candidate for the throne. The three of us have always attempted to keep the peace because of that. It’s why we still go to those stupid birthday dinners Demitrious throws, despite West and the rest of us hating the old man’s guts.”

Speaking of the party…

Nix had been trying to find the right time to ask about the topic at dinner, but the time hadn’t come. Now, he cleared his throat and pretended to find interest in playing with the bathwater, causally asking, “What did Hendrix mean when he said all that stuff about your parents?”

Lake’s fingers stilled inside of him, but he recovered quickly. “They enjoyed the Night of the Nightshade same as every other member, that’s all.”

“Really?” If that was it, Hendrix would surely have chosen a different topic to try poking at Lake. “It sounded like more than that.”

He was quiet for a while, seemingly giving all his attention to cleaning Nix out. When his silence was met with patience, he eventually gave in. “The Night of the Nightshade is traditionally a day meant for taboos. Nothing is off the table. My parents, like many other couples, used the night to…explore.”

“You mean, they slept with other people?” That’s basically what he’d gathered from Hendrix’s words, anyway.

“Yes.”

“Does that upset you?” Nix wasn’t sure why he’d been so hesitant to admit it.

“Doesn’t it upset you?” Lake countered.

“No? Why should it?”

“You aren’t worried that we might eventually try to do the same to you?”

Nix quirked a brow and turned in Lake’s lap as much as the space in the tub would allow. “Have I ever given the impression something like that would bother me?” He held up a hand before Lake could reply. “Let me reiterate. What makes you think I would ever stand by and allow that to happen in the first place? Yejun is one thing, because he’s always been a playboy and I’ve always known that. But you and West? I catch either of you fucking anyone aside from each other and I’ll make your life a living hell, got it?”

The truth was, Nix knew that would never happen. Lake was many things, but a cheater wasn’t one of them. Ever since they’d met, he’d been nothing but dedicated, even when that was something Nix hadn’t wanted.

“Fucking each other.” Lake clearly found that amusing. “You mean like the other day when you made Yejun and I fool around?”

“Whose mouth was better?” Nix asked, mostly joking. “I mean, I’ve been blown by him before, so I know he’s phenomenal, but I’m not too shabby, am I?”

He couldn’t hold a candle to June’s skills and he knew it.

“Just ask me what you actually want to ask me,” Lake said.

“Does it upset you that your parents slept around?” His reaction at the dinner made it seem like that was the case, but Nix wanted to know how deeply that ran. Having come from a family dynamic where something like that would never be tolerated, he could understand if it bugged Lake. Then again, on the other hand… “Isn’t that pretty normal for Essentials? Sex is a huge motivator, isn’t it?”

“People use it to make deals and barter, yes,” Lake began, “but my parents were a mated couple. It’s…different. Even some of the other members gossiped about them when it got out they sometimes slept with other partners. My mother especially had one in particular that she was rather fond of. There were rumors she was planning on leaving my father for him, in fact.”

“But she never did.”

“No.”

“So they were just shitty rumors.”