Page 61 of Villain
Lake, who kept his feelings so close to the chest even Nix was unable to figure out what he was thinking.
Yejun was different. He wore his emotions proudly, not bothering to hide them. In fact, he gave the impression he wanted them to be seen. Like, maybe, he wanted to just be seen in general.
“Or,” Nix tentatively tried his luck, “maybe that’s exactly why you should believe me. My cousin was aware of just how small my sphere of comfort goes.”
“And that’s all it took for you to step out of your bubble?”
He bristled. “All it took? She died.”
That cavern within him yawned and Nix momentarily was at risk of falling into it. The grief was still potent when he allowed himself to feel it, when he gave into the sorrow and the pain and the fury. It was the latter that had been driving him forward, allowing him to focus on the task at hand instead of crawling into bed and staying there for weeks on end like Branwen’s older brother, Braint, supposedly was.
Yejun tipped his head, that suspicious gleam in his dark eyes unwavering. “How’d she die?”
He didn’t want to tell him. Prior to this moment, Nix had foolishly believed that perhaps Yejun wasn’t as bad as everyone had made him out to be. So far, he’d been the calmest—although, that was based off of their last encounter. Somehow, Nix must have forgotten that Yejun was the one who’d held him down at the Roost.
Had been the one to strip him at Lake’s behest…
“Grady is right,” he found himself saying, his distaste ringing clear. “You’re all monsters.” He took a step toward the door.
“You think you can escape just by walking out?” Yejun tsked. “You signed a contract, Firebird. Since it was made with Essentials, it’s legally binding, no matter what you want to believe.”
On most planets within the universe, a contract like that wouldn’t hold much weight in court. Sure, Nix had signed his name to it, but he could easily claim—and rightly so—that it’d been under duress. Since most civilizations considered consent to be important, they wouldn’t allow it to be given away lightly. They’d stand by him if he tried to fight it.
But Tulniri wasn’t like the majority of other planets. Nix had had the misfortune of being born on a planet and in a galaxy, in particular, that had murky laws where things like consent were concerned. A lot of that had to do with the fact it was jointly run. The Imperial family had a say, but so did Club Essential.
And the Demons of Foxglove Grove? They were the future of the club. Which meant they might as well be the club.
“You guys could have chosen anyone,” Nix stated. “Why me?”
“Because Lake wanted you,” he told him matter-of-factly.
“And you and West just roll with whatever he wants?”
“I want Lake to be content,” Yejun corrected, “and West…West wants what Lake wants. In more ways than one. We stick together.”
Nix crossed his arms stubbornly. “If I contest this contract, yeah, I’ll lose against you. But I won’t be the only one screwed over. You need me to draw out this hacker, right? What happens when this person finds out I’m not actually as invested in this arrangement as you all want him to think?”
Yejun chuckled darkly. “Actually, that’d also work in our favor. Chances are very good that would only make him come to you sooner.”
“What?” Nix didn’t understand.
“The hacker is out to get us,” Yejun shared. “So if he thinks you’d help him achieve that goal?”
“Is that what I’m being used for?” He shook his head. “That’s what you both meant when you called me naïve?”
So the real plan was that the hacker would approach him and try to recruit him. If he believed that Nix hated the Demons, he would be more likely to do so, but they’d painted themselves into a corner by trying to appease all sides. The club was under the impression Nix was here willingly and helping them out in exchange for sexual gratification. In order to maintain that illusion…
“Essential wouldn’t view it the same way,” Nix dared point out.
“Which is why you’re going to continue to be the good little birdie I know you can be,” Yejun said without skipping a beat. “Put your stubbornness and pride aside and look at it this way: it’s either a lose-lose or a win-win situation. At the end of the day, the three of us might be in charge, but I’ll let you in on a secret Lake and West would never.” He moved closer.
“What’s that?” Nix forced himself to hold still as the other man approached, not wanting to come off weak even though his nerves were thrumming.
“You’ve got the power here.” Yejun stopped so close he could feel his warm breath gust across his face and captured his chin between two fingers. “You’re right. You could play the victim and make it publicly known that we’re forcing you. The Order would be displeased with us and probably call us in for a scolding. They wouldn’t trust you and you’d be number one on their shit list—you could kiss Star Eye goodbye, that’s for sure. They won’t do favors for anyone they don’t trust.
“Or, you can lean into things. Convince the rest of the world that you want to be here, lavished by our glorious attention. The hacker will eventually come to you and try to sway you to his side, and the Order will believe that’s all part of our plan—because it is. We catch the bad guy, you get that fancy job, and the story ends with a happily ever after.”
It sounded great when he laid it all out like that, but…