Page 87 of Saint

“Nix.” West was there, easing him away, helping June to carefully maneuver Nix around the table.

“Is he dead?” Nix couldn’t make sense of what he was saying.

“Babe.”

“He’sdead?” But he’d been fine a minute ago. There’d been no signs he was sick, not a single one. Even Juri hadseemed shocked when he’d started to cough. Things weren’t adding up. “It doesn’t make sense.”

If he was sick enough to die like that, he had to have known, but if Juri had known, why would he bother fighting so hard for a throne he wouldn’t live long enough to sit on?

“It doesn’t make sense,” he repeated.

“Songbird.” Lake captured his face in both hands and forced Nix’s gaze away from the body. “Nix, look at me. I need you to calm down, okay? We’re still in the Club House and people are watching.”

Who gave a shit about people?

“Juri just died,” he reminded.

“He’s not dead,” Yejun corrected. He’d left Nix with Lake and West and had gone back to check. “He’s got a pulse but it’s very weak.”

“You have to help him,” Nix said.

“We will.” Lake paused and then added, “I’m sorry.”

Was he?

Was Nix?

Yes, yes he was. He was livid with Juri, but that didn’t mean he wanted the guy dead!

Did it?

Hadn’t he been thinking dark thoughts like that all day?

“Hey,” Lake shook him a little to regain his attention, “enough. We need you to focus right now, Nix. You’re our fourth and we aren’t safe here.”

Right. He was one of them, and they had to be careful. Feelings could be viewed as weakness to Essentials. Nix glanced around the room and realized with a start that aside from Demitrious and Sif, everyone else had fled.

“They’re afraid it’s contagious,” West leaned in and whispered. “Cowards.”

Coward.

Juri had called his brother that earlier.

“So they can flee from the scene after a guy has passed out, but we can’t show a bit of remorse?” Nix hated it here. But it was the slap in the face he needed to pull himself together. He blinked and then straightened, nodding at Lake that he was all right.

Lake hesitated but then released him. “The club doctor is on the way. They’ll take Juri straight to the hospital. If there’s something they can do for him, they’ll do it. If not…” he trailed off, seeming to realize they were going to have to talk about the chance that Juri wouldn’t make it.

“Autopsy,” Nix filled in for him. “Yeah. I get it.”

Juri would need an autopsy if he died.

“There were plenty of witnesses,” Sif spoke up then. “If anyone tries to make up any stories,” she set her sights on Demitrious when she said that part, “please know you have me in your corner, Imperial Lake.”

“Oversee the transfer,” Lake ordered, taking control of the situation with ease. “I don’t want anyone allowed near the body aside from the chief surgeon or, if it comes to it, the medical examiners.”

“Of course, Imperial.” She bowed her head and then turned toward the door just as a team of paramedics dressed in outfits with the club logo on the sleeves instead of the hospital’s came in. “This way.”

Yejun stepped into Nix’s line of sight, blocking them as they presumably lifted Juri’s body onto the stretcher. “Just breathe, Firebird.”

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