Page 84 of Saint

One that was definitely meant to sell the story they were close, if only in a bid to stall for time.

Because Nix had realized an important fact that no one else here seemed to have picked up on yet.

To the Demons of Foxglove Grove, they were all nothing. They didn’t matter.

But Nix did.

“Will you confirm the allegations?” Sif asked him suddenly. “Is what Juri Ferd said about your relationship with Lake, West, and Yejun true?”

Nix dropped his gaze to the table, feigning discomfort.

“Don’t be afraid,” one of the men reassured him. “You’re safe here. If Lake has been abusing his power, we need to know to ensure he doesn’t get away with it.”

“We’ll protect you,” Sif insisted.

No one noticed Demitrious roll his eyes aside from Nix, who pretended not to.

“Tell them,” Juri urged, resting a hand on Nix’s lower back intimately. “Go ahead. Tell them—”

The doors burst open, and Nix, in all his foolishness, sought out Lake’s gaze the second he stepped into the room. He searched his expression for any signs of betrayal or anger, but the Imperial had his mask firmly in place, the icy exterior too tightly on for even Nix to peek behind.

“Yeah,” Yejun stepped in on Lake’s right then, “tell them, Firebird.”

West came in on the left. “Tell them all about how Juri here kidnapped your cousin and tried to blackmail you into making up some bullshit sob story.”

Two things happened at once.

First, Nix felt a rush of relief so potent, he practically saw stars.

Second, he pulled his arm back and elbowed Juri directly in the throat.

There were gasps and the sound of Juri choking as Nix stood, but he didn’t give a shit about anyone else.

“You figured it out?” he almost didn’t dare ask in front of all of these people, but he had to be sure. Had to be positive he wasn’t seeing what he wanted to see, and those words spoken by West right now hadn’t been misinterpreted by him as meaning they believed he was innocent.

“Found Briant locked up at Winchester,” West filled him in as they crowded the room on the side of the table where most of the Order were sitting. “It’s an old hotel that’s been waiting on renovations for over two years now.”

“He’s safe, Songbird,” Lake said. “Beck is watching him at the Roost.”

“Is he okay? He wasn’t injured or anything, was he?” Nix hadn’t seen anything on the camera when he’d been shown, but it’d been black and white and tiny on the screen.

“He’s fine.” Yejun smirked at him when their eyes met, but then he turned to Juri and lost all sense of humor. “But someone won’t be.”

“Nix,” Juri reached for him but he slapped his hand away and moved out of arm's length.

“Everything Juri told you is a lie,” he declared. “I’m legally mated to Lake Zyairby choice. I was given another mating bite by West Corleoneby choice. And I’m dating Yejun Sangby choice. The only one in this room who’s made me do something I don’t want to is Juri Ferd. He abducted my older cousin and has been holding him hostage for several days now.”

“Is this true?” Sif sneered. “How unbecoming.”

“I am of Imperial blood,” Juri snapped. “Legally, I have a claim to the throne. It is my birthright.”

Lake faltered for a split second, the confusion there and gone in a flash. The only reason Nix caught it was because he’dbeen staring at him. They must not have gotten the full story, perhaps because Juri hadn’t shared it with Briant?

“He isn’t wrong,” one of the quieter men at the other end of the table leaned over and said to the woman on his left.

She nodded but didn’t verbally reply, not that she needed to.

Nix could see the wheels turning in her head. She was thinking about how Juri might be more pliable than Lake. How the Order might gain a stronger foothold in the empire as a whole if they backed someone other than the icy Imperial.

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