Page 55 of Saint

“…Maybe.” Lake rested his chin on Nix’s shoulder. “I saw her with him once, her other lover? She seemed…happy with him. It was strange and I was too young to really understand the implications. My parents died less than a year after that. They were still together at the time, but that doesn’t mean anything. Perhaps they wanted to part ways but couldn’t because of the mating mark.”

“Kind of weird that you gave me one then, don’t you think?” Nix couldn’t help but say, but Lake shook his head.

“Not at all. That’s the very reason I bit you. If my mother did fall for someone else but still couldn’t leave my father because of the mating rules, that meant even they were bound. They were the most powerful people on planet at the time of their deaths, only second to the Emperor herself. If they couldn’t break the bond, nothing you could ever try or do would allow you to escape from me.”

“That’s…” Nix searched for the right word to describe what he was feeling but came up short.

“I frightened you,” Lake surmised.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “You just have this tendency to come on really strong. Just when I think I’ve come to terms with my role here, you always seem to trip me up. No one has ever wanted me before, let alone this much.”

“Get used to it, Songbird.”

It wasn’t bad advice.

“I promise I’ll do my best to make you want to stay with me,” Lake told him then. “Once I’m emperor, anything you want, it’s yours.”

His conversation with Juri and Briant came to mind.

“Star Eye Holding,” Nix stated. “I want to work at Star Eye Holding. I want my own life, Lake. Don’t force me to give up any more than I already have.” He took a shaky breath and forced out, “Please.”

Lake held him closer. “That’s it?”

“I would hardly call freedom a small thing,” he scoffed.

“You’ll be my Royal Consort. I’ll have to assign a bodyguard and a personal driver.”

“That’s okay.” Nix had already prepared himself for that much. “I don’t want to risk my life. I just want to live it.”

“Do you want me to get you the job or—”

“No,” he said. “I want to graduate and apply like everyone else. Swear you won’t interfere, that you’ll let me work for as long as I want and wherever I want, and I promise I’ll never try to run away or try and break the mating contract.” Nix had no intentions of doing that anyway, but Lake didn’t have to know that. West had suggested using everything he could to get his way, even against the Demons. “Deal?”

“All right, Songbird,” Lake agreed. “You have a deal.”

Nix probably shouldn’t be starting anything, considering how sore his ass still was, but he couldn’t help it. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d shifted around in Lake’s lap and kissed the guy.

When he felt the tip of Lake’s cock bump against his entrance, he adjusted and sunk down on that hard member, moaning against the Imperial’s tongue.

Star Eye Holding and this for the rest of his life?

Yeah. He could do that.

Chapter 16:

The vibe was depressing with Nix’s friends even a full week after the revelation about Dew. Classes hadn’t been halted and no memorial had been given. Everything just continued on as though Dew had never existed, and even though he’d turned out to be an asshole, that bothered Nix.

It bothered Grady and Khloe as well, though they tried not to show it around him, probably out of respect for what he’d been through. The last thing Nix wanted was for them to feel like they had to walk on eggshells around him though.

Part of him even felt responsible for their pain.

He must have done something to push Dew over the edge, but he’d gone over their interactions and nothing had come to mind. The only thing he could think of was the lie he’d told about them knowing the name of the hacker. The problem was, Dewwasn’t the hacker. He was involved, sure, but as a mere sidekick, what reason could he have had to take his own life?

Or even expose Nix at the art gallery? That had seemed personal. Malicious. Had Dew secretly hated him? He couldn’t stop asking himself that.

The three of them stepped out of the library and lumbered down the steps with little energy, the mood sour. They’d stuck to their study group after class, but it’d been awkward and quiet. Khloe’s eyes were puffy and red, and Grady had tried too hard not to notice, quietly offering her tissues.

They’d welcomed him into their friend group at the start of the semester, and now everything was a mess. Nix was actually surprised they hadn’t told him to get lost.

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