Page 23 of Sinner
“Where are you going?”
“Your room.” Lake wasn’t going to sleep in the same space as Briant, and he didn’t think he or Nix would want him to.
“Don’t hog the covers,” West warned.
“Fuck off.”
They could get through this, just like they’d gotten through everything else. So long as they stuck together, nothing and no one would be strong enough to break them down.
A united front, that’s what Nix said he wanted. Why he’d chosen to forgive Yejun, and work on building trust between himself and Lake.
If Nix could put aside his own discomforts for them, the least they could do was give him the time and the space he needed to process everything that had happened with Juri. If that meant letting him take comfort in Yejun and only Yejun, so be it.
“Are we any closer to figuring out who the poisoner is?” Lake asked as soon as they were inside West’s room and the door was shut behind them. He went straight for the bed, already unbuttoning the high-collared shirt he’d had to wear to the meeting.
Presentation was everything, and no one met with the High Council dressed in casual clothing or university uniforms. He’d gone in traditional Imperial clothing instead, sleeveless, with a stiff collar and golden threads woven throughout the velvety black material. The outfit cost a small fortune, but he was careless with it now, almost desperate to get the thing off and as far away from himself as possible.
All his life, he’d wanted nothing more than this, than the opportunity to dress the way his station allowed and be told he was getting the crown, but now that it was finally happening, he couldn’t enjoy it.
None of this mattered, not when there was still a threat lurking in the shadows.
Not when there was a potential threat toward Nix.
“If they got to Juri, they can get to him,” Lake said.
“We won’t let that happen,” West reassured, though it was clear from his pinched expression he was sharing the same fears.
West was smart. He would have thought up a million and one ways an enemy could get to their Fourth by now. Dozens of ways to keep him, and the rest of them, safe. While his own intelligence could hardly be considered lacking, Lake had never lied to himself when it came to his best friend.
He needed West. Needed his mind and his energy. Needed his fists and the almost brash way he viewed the world around them. Where Lake plotted and schemed, West uncovered and confronted. If this were ancient times, he would make West his top general, as it were, the title he’d be offering was a little less extreme.
“What should we do about it?” Lake uncrumpled his shirt and then took more care with his pants before setting the items off to the side and practically tossing himself down onto the bed. He shoved over until his shoulder hit the wall and then lifted an arm, shielding his eyes with his wrist as he listened to the other man getting ready.
It’d been a long time since they’d done something like this. Sleepovers, once they’d passed the age of fifteen, were unheard of. They’d been too grown up and self-conscious to share a bed then, but there was none of that now.
Lake was simply exhausted, and he needed a safe space since his room was currently occupied by a relative stranger.
West had always been and would always be a safe space for him. Things had been rocky between them the past couple of years, and he was grateful for the reminder now. At least some good had come out of this mess.
“There’s a week before classes start back up,” West said as he stripped out of his clothing and pulled on a pair of pajama pants. “For now, Nix shouldn’t be allowed to leave the Roostunless he has to, and even then, one of us should accompany him at all times.”
“He won’t like it.”
“He doesn’t have to,” West stated. “Keeping him safe is the top priority. Besides, he’s not the only one who would benefit from the buddy system.”
Lake scowled but didn’t remove his arm to make eye contact as he felt the bed dip at his side. “You want us to stick together as well? What? Should we stroll through the club holding hands?”
“Don’t be disgusting.” He tugged on the blanket, pulling more of it off of Lake than he needed. A childish move reminiscent of their past. “Juri got around, and we still don’t know enough about this drug to make any set assumptions about it. Branwen was dosing me for a couple of weeks before the effects really took, but that was almost a year ago. There’s no telling if whoever is responsible has been working on an updated version.”
Since the late emperor and their Royal Consort were also murdered with that same poison, and yet no one had come forward about that or there being anyone suspicious lingering around them the days leading up to their deaths, they had no clues who could have done it.
Had it been someone close enough to them, they’d been able to risk slowly dosing them, like West had been? Or was it someone who managed to slip past notice, poison them the once, and be done with it?
“Can we just call it?” West asked, almost as soon as he’d finished his other sentences. “We do know who it is now. It was Hendrix. Had to be.”
“Have you spoken to Nix about what else he’d managed to find?”
“Not yet. He stayed in your room up until an hour or so ago. I found him already with June outside, same as you did.”
