Chapter 22 #2
Beck had been there the day Nix had been shoved into the waif stall.
That must have been a coincidence, since no one knew Nix had planned to go there, not even Nix himself.
Dew must have been following him, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Pushing him into the stall and locking the door behind him had been mean, but could still be considered a harmless prank to some.
But swapping out Yejun’s paintings and exposing Nix drawn naked to the entire school?
That had been cruel.
It’d also been Dew’s downfall, because if he’d never done that, pushed things that far, they never would have caught him.
“Things escalate after I bite Nix.” Lake tapped his fingers on his knee.
“It triggered Dew’s insecurities and jealousy,” Yejun said. “That must be when he started to actually dislike you, Nix. There had to be some serious negative emotions at play for him to risk pissing me off. He saw what happened with Branwen.”
“Yeah, as far as he knows, you gave her a slap on the wrist and had her expelled,” West drawled. “That’s nowhere near as extreme as, say, stabbing someone's eye out with a fork.”
“Admittedly, not my finest hour.”
“We weren’t on good terms either,” Nix reminded. “Rumors that I was caught cheating and you flipped out were still circulating.”
“Beck helped by leading us to Dew’s dorm.” West grimaced. “But it looks like his secret conversation with Dew while we were headed there is what pushed the guy to jump. He was really that obsessed with him.”
“He must have known Beck wasn’t going to help him after this,” Yejun said. “He was there when it happened and saw your reaction. You weren’t going to let this go, which meant Beck couldn’t try and defend Dew, or risk you finding out that they were sleeping together.”
“Dew knew Beck well enough to figure that out on his own.” Nix felt sorry for him.
No one should feel the need to sacrifice themselves because they couldn’t earn someone else’s affection.
Though as nice as it was, making him out to be some tragic romantic, there was more to the story than that.
“He must have also realized we’d catch him.
His involvement with Hendrix? As soon as that got out, it wasn’t just Beck he needed to be afraid of. ”
“You’re right. His entire family might have been implicated. Rase’s didn’t fare too well after he was exposed for sexual assault.”
“Still kind of ironic to me,” Nix confessed. “Isn’t that sort of the Essential’s whole modus operandi?”
“ We can get away with something like that,” Lake said. “But not anyone else. Not common members, that’s for sure. Sex is a weapon, yes, but the whole reason the Essentials pour so much funding into parties like the Night of the Nightshade and Demons Passing is because there are still laws.”
Nix grunted. “Could have fooled me.”
They’d been at this all day, and it was well into the night now.
Tomorrow, the festival Lake had just mentioned would happen, and Nix doubted they wanted to be exhausted for that.
It seemed like something the Demons had been looking forward to, and he didn’t want to be the one dragging them down into his melancholy.
“We know what really happened now,” he announced. “That’s what we wanted, right? According to Beck, he regrets threatening you, West. If you want us to tell him to back off for you, we can. Otherwise, I agree with June. We should wait until after the coronation.”
Nix could put his jealousy aside until then. He trusted West, and Beck had sounded sincere in the library. But it really came down to how West felt.
“I’m okay with that,” the boxer drawled, staring at him closely, “but are you sure?”
“I mean, I’d prefer if you weren’t, like, alone with him for the time being.”
“Yeah, that won’t be a problem. I don’t have any intentions of speaking to him at all if it can be avoided.” He smiled at him reassuringly. “Let’s just put this to the side and enjoy the party tomorrow. At least now we know we’re safe. Hendrix has been spotted, and—”
“He was arrested six hours ago, actually,” Lake interrupted. He shrugged when they frowned at him. “I didn’t really get the chance to say, what with all of this going on.”
“Where is he now?”
“They’re bringing him to the palace prison to await trial.”
“Which will be?” Yejun tilted his head.
“After the coronation.”
On the one hand, Nix didn’t like having to wait, but on the other, he got the appeal of it happening once Lake wore the crown.
They’d have more control over his punishment that way.
Maybe they’d even be able to find out where the poison had been concocted and ensure the team who’d been in charge of it were also dealt with.
“So, we really can sit back and relax.” Yejun dropped down onto West’s bed and stared up at the ceiling with a sigh of relief. “What a long and arduous process that has been.”
“Don’t get too comfortable just yet,” Lake warned, though he was smirking as well. “There’s still enough time between the coronation and now for things to go wrong.”
He waved him off. “As long as Beck keeps his word and doesn’t make the moves on West, I think we’ll be fine. And if he doesn’t? The worst that can happen is Nix loses it and kills him in a jealous rage.” Yejun sat up suddenly, and at the same moment, West cocked his head as if picturing it.
Neither of them seemed to hate the idea.
“Actually…”
Nix shoved him backward and then shook his head at West. “Put those weird bloody fantasies away. I’m not going to murder Beck.”
“Even if he—”
“Don’t,” he held up a finger, “finish that sentence.” He spun on Yejun. “And, dude, seriously. What is up with the shoes?” It’d been a burning question for eons, and he couldn’t believe he was only now finally getting around to asking about it.
“Those?” June shrugged like it was perfectly normal. “My sister wanted to do a sculpture for one of the charity events our mother was hosting last year, but she wasn’t willing to use her own shoes, so I said I’d help her out. That’s all.”
“…One of Branwen’s shoes was there.”
“Yeah, because she came into my room one day and opened my closet right in front of me. She pretended it was her first time seeing them, but she asked me about it and gave me one from a pair she didn’t want anymore after.”
“That’s…” Boring.
West laughed. “Don’t sound so disappointed, Nixie. He’ll take it the wrong way.”
“He’ll take it to mean we’re going to have to spend the next couple of hours spicing things up,” Lake added.
Ignoring them, Nix held out his hand to Yejun. “Show me a picture of the sculpture.”
“Obviously she didn’t end up using any of the shoes.” June tapped on his multi-slate, looking for something.
“Obviously.” Duh, because they wouldn’t have been in his closet still if she had.
“Here.” He held the device out, and Nix leaned in to see an image of a throne made of doll heads.
Their eyes were crossed out or taped over.
“That’s…” Not boring, that was for sure.
“Creepy as fuck?” West shivered. “Hated having to stare at that thing.”
“Her sculpture won first place,” Lake reminded.
“How do you remember that? You weren’t even here.”
All of the dolls had the same inky black hair color as Yejun.
…And Sayda Sang.
Nix eased the device back Yejun’s way. “That’s enough revelations for one night.”