Page 11 of Saint

“What is it?” West asked.

“Look into Briant.”

He swore and pulled away, setting his glass down on the counter with more force than necessary. “Seriously?”

“I just want to be sure.”

“Sure of what? That the guy didn’t have a hand inhis own sister’sdestruction? Come on, man. Besides, he’s with Juri—”

“I still don’t trust Juri.”

“He’s done nothing to make us think he’s out to get us,” West stated. “If anything, he’s gone out of his way for Nix. That should mean something to you. It does to me. Anyone who has our fourth’s back is okay in my book. We’ve already proven that Dew set him up with the painting swap. Dew was also the one who pushed Nix into the waif stall that day. There’s nothing to pin onto Juri even if you want to.”

“What has Nix told you about Iris—” Yejun grimaced and licked his lips, then corrected himself, “Branwen and the letter she wrote him?”

This was all information that needed to be shared between the four of them anyway, so West didn’t feel bad talking about it. There wasn’t much, though. It’d been a one-page letter written by a girl who knew she was about to die. Most of the things she’d written had been clear coercions meant to guilt and enrage Nix enough to throw himself into the fire on her behalf.

The more he thought about that, the angrier he became. The idea that someone Nix had trusted so much could use him like that, and as her final act as well…It was deplorable. He’d never even dream of betraying Lake or Yejun that way. If there was danger, he’d want them far away from it, not throwing themselves into the thick of it. Especially not without the full story.

She’d strung him along and left him only half an instruction manual. If she’d truly wanted him to avenge her, she would have written out the guy's full name and included his social media handle.

“Branwen knew this guy,” West divulged. “She thought she was in a relationship with him even.”

“So she lied to me, even at the end,” Yejun didn’t sound all that surprised about that. “We should take a look at the people around Dew.”

“You don’t think he’s the one Branwen was seeing?”

Yejun made a face. “Absolutely not. She was a bitch, but she had taste.”

“Wow.” West would pretend to care about speaking ill of the dead—twice over, in this case—but he didn’t have it in him. He was worried about Nix and honestly a bit cranky. The last thing he wanted to do was research. He’d much rather take a warm bath with Nixie and then hit the hay. “Dew’s group is the same one Nix hangs around with.”

“That could be on purpose.”

It wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. Could be whoever the mastermind behind all of this was, they were lying low to collect intel on Nix. Maybe this person already knew about his connection to Branwen.

“I’ll talk to him about it,” West said.

“Or—”

He gave a single curt shake of his head. “Don’t push your luck, June. Suspecting his friends is already going to upset him, it’ll only be worse if the accusation comes from you. We’re already using Juri as the sacrifice.”

“Nix agreed to that,” Yejun reminded.

West drank the remaining contents of his glass and then sighed. “I’ve got to get to work if I have a hope of finishing anything in time for Lake’s birthday dinner tomorrow.”

“Right,” Yejun groaned, “that. Any chance your dad will cancel?”

None of them were in the mood for a celebration, but considering this was the first birthday in a couple of years that Lake would be present on planet for… “No chance in hell.”

Which meant the four of them were going to have to play happy family and put their grievances aside for a night.

Fantastic.

Chapter 4:

Nix wasn’t exactly nervous…but he wasn’t exactlynotnervous either.

He wrung his hands as he peered out the window of the hovercar, trying not to breathe too deeply. West had opted to drive to his father’s house for the birthday celebration, forcing both Lake and Yejun into the back seat and Nix in the passenger one. Honestly, he was grateful for it because the tiny car already felt cramped enough, and that was with them behind him.

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