Page 30 of Villain
“Making fun of me.”
“Who’s making fun of you?” Yejun moved his arm so it was around Nix’s neck instead and pulled him in, bringing his mouth right up to the curve of his ear. “Point them out to me. I’ll kill them for you.”
“Stop.” He shoved him away with a scowl and swiveled toward Lake, dropping his voice to a low hush in the hopes no one else would be able to hear him. “Seriously, why are you doing this? Are you trying to humiliate me in front of the entire school now too, is that it?”
“You say that as though I’ve ever intended to humiliate you,” Lake drawled, and for a moment it actually appeared as though he believed that, then it seemed to occur to him. “Oh. If you’re referring to the other night, Songbird, then there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“There has not been.”
“There has. That wasn’t meant to humiliate you, Nix.”
“No? Then what was it?” He wasn’t buying it.
“An initiation.”
“You could have chosen any Fav—” Nix was cut off when Yejun slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Everyone in here might already know that we’re the Kings,” Yejun whispered to him tightly, “but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to verbally confirm it. Especially not like this, while throwing a tantrum like a toddler. You wanted it, didn’t you? We granted your wish.” He let Nix go with a snort. “Is that anyway to thank us?”
Nix glanced around, catching the interested stares. Not a single person in the room wasn’t watching with abated breath, hoping to catch some sliver of juicy gossip they could spread around the rest of the campus and possibly the entire damn city.
It wasn’t a stretch to assume the Demons were all in the King tier, considering their positions. Could that be the reason some students even bothered trying to achieve that tier in the first place? For the chance to be noticed by one of them? The chance to get closer to a Demon?
Was that why Branwen had done it?
No. No way. Even though they’d grown distance, Nix still knew his cousin. These guys? They weren’t her type. Never had been. Never would be—
He sobered instantly.
Because no.
Now they really wouldn’t ever be.
No one would.
The dead couldn’t have a type.
Lake captured Nix’s chin between two fingers, searching his eyes even when Nix glared. “What happened just now?”
“Nothing.” He brushed him off.
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“Oh? You mean in the same way you supposedly weren’t trying to humiliate me?”
“Do I really need to explain myself again?” Lake sighed, but at least he dropped the other thing.
Nix so wasn’t going to speak to any of them about his cousin, not when they could very well be involved. He needed to believe it was a different King he was after though. Needed to for more than once reason, least of which being he wasn’t confident enough in his abilities to think he could go up against people like them.
His family stayed out of politics. The rumor was it had something to do with his great great great grandmother, who was once a member of Club Essential. She disagreed with a decision made once, went up against the wrong person, and their bloodline was almost wiped out.
Or so the story went. There was no way of knowing if that was true or not, but Nix had no interest in getting involved with the club or any form of government anyway. He was no essential member of society, so it wasn’t like the club would take him anyway. One had to have something offer, something to contribute to the planet and those running it in order to earn that right.
“Fine, then tell me truthfully, why are you here?” he finally asked, anxious now that his mind had recalled why being around Lake and the others was such a bad idea.
“It’s not obvious?” West took one of the berries off the tray and ate it, happier with his choice this time around.
“Enlighten me.”