Page 49 of Villain

Mind made up, Nix forced his features to settle and then tugged open the heavy door, slipping into a large, open room painted bright white. It was a rare sunny day out, and sunlight spilled in through the far wall which had one huge window, casting shadows from the easels set about.

Some of them had partially finished works on display, but the room was empty save for one other person.

“Took you long enough, Firebird.” Yejun was busy sketching something in charcoal on the other side of the room. There was a small table tucked into the corner with a holo-cube and the device was currently flickering through various photos of the same man posing—someone Nix didn’t recognize.

Yejun was sitting on a stool with one leg crossed over the other, a medium-sized sketchpad set over his thigh. He didn’t glance up from his work, waiting for Nix to come over on his own.

Not seeing how standing by the door would benefit him, Nix started walking, carefully weaving through the other easels as he did until he was standing a few feet away from the Demon.

“What?” Yejun asked, sketching a few more lines before finally lifting his head. His dark brown eyes found Nix’s, his expression calm. The set of his shoulders and body language also gave off the sense he was relaxed, but Nix wasn’t sure if he could trust it.

“You wanted to see me?” Nix’s voice sounded almost too loud in the room and he shifted on his feet.

Yejun chuckled and then motioned to a nearby stool, positioned a bit ahead of his so that he could keep both the holo-cube and Nix in his line of sight. “Sit down. I’m not going to do anything weird to you.”

“It’s unclear if our definitions of weird are similar,” Nix mumbled, but he took a seat, lowering his backpack to the ground. “Where’s the rest of the class?”

“What do you mean?”

Nix waved at the other easels. “Did it end? Why are you the only one here?”

“Oh, those.” Yejun returned to his drawing. “Those are all mine.”

Huh? His confusion must have shown because Yejun laughed.

“This is my private studio room, Firebird. No one else is allowed in here without my permission.” He pointed to the holo-cube. “I had this model in here earlier and took the photos I would need so I could send him away before your arrival.”

Nix tensed. “Why?”

“Relax, I said I wasn’t going to do anything to you. Damn. Your trust issues seem worse than mine.”

“You have trust issues?”

“Got screwed over by a friend recently. Iris. Pretty name for such a poisonous person.” Even though he was the one who’d brought it up, Yejun’s mood soured instantly. He scowled and ripped the page he’d been working on from his sketch pad, crumpled it up, and tossed it carelessly over his shoulder. A second later, he drew lines on a fresh page, the crease between his brow lingering. “Lying bitch is lucky she’s gone.”

He felt himself go cold. “Like, she’s dead?”

Was it him?

Was Yejun the King—

“What?” He sent him an incredulous look. “No, man. Of course not. She just transferred. Why would you—” Yejun caught himself. “Oh. Right. Sorry. That was tacky of me. You mentioned your cousin recently passed. That’s got to suck.”

Nix deflated some, confused over the odd mix of emotions in him. On the one hand, if it had been Yejun, he’d have found the culprit. On the other…Having experienced what it was like to be held down by both Lake and West, Nix had concluded that he hoped the King he was after wasn’t one of the Demons. Not only because he’d signed that contract already and it was too late to go back and undo it, but also because he had no clue how he’d be able to take one of them down on his own.

Hell, he still didn’t really have a plan in that regard anyway, no matter who the King ended up being.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Yejun surprised him with the sincerity in his tone. “I’ve never lost anyone close to me, but I imagine it’s got to be a pretty shitty feeling.”

“Yeah,” Nix replied. “Kind of feels like I woke up one day and everything was different, but I can’t quite put my finger on what’s changed, and that drives me crazy.” Logically, he knew the missing thing was Branwen, but because she wasn’t a daily fixture in his life and hadn’t been for some time, it was almost like his subconscious struggled to put two and two together.

Like, the grief and confusion were always there, but he couldn’t always process that’s what he was feeling when he first woke up in the morning. And then, as soon as it did hit him, the rage came quickly after.

“It’s nowhere near the same thing,” Yejun said, “but that friend who screwed me over? I sort of feel like that. It’s better now, but when it first happened last year I was a nightmare to be around.”

Was that why Lake had told him Yejun was vicious? Had he been taking out his emotions on others? Was that why he’d ordered those two Bishops to have public sex, knowing they’d get expelled and never rise in tier?

“What happened?” He probably shouldn’t ask, but since Yejun had brought it up…Nix risked it.