Chapter 1

He couldn't do it.

Nix squeezed his eyes shut and pumped faster, praying for the end to hurry up and come already. He'd been unable to face the camera—even with the mask on to help conceal his identity—but turning his back to it had only helped ease his nerves so much.

It was the knowing it was there…

Watching him…

That others, strangers , were on the other side of it staring while he—

Well. Maybe not multiple, but there was at least one. One person who'd sent him this invitation—Favor, as it was called—with the instructions to touch himself to release. That person was there, the username taunting him when he'd entered the chat room and set his camera up, but he hadn't been able to check to see if any others had come to see the show.

His show.

Good Light, how had Branwen done this ?

He bit his bottom lip hard enough there was an accompanying tang of blood and let out a low growl of frustration. He could do this. He had to do this.

For her.

Thinking about his cousin right now wasn't helping him get off any quicker, and he dashed those thoughts from his mind. In his left hand, his dick was still full and leaking, but no matter how turned on he was, he just couldn't seem to shake the trepidation enough to reach the finish line. Which wouldn't do, because if he didn't follow the rules and come on camera…

Nix was currently in his childhood bedroom, alone in the house since his parents were still staying with Branwen's three hours away. He was a rather vocal lover, so he'd thought being on his own would help him accomplish this task, since he could be as loud as he needed. Unfortunately, though he was alone, he wasn't alone , and that fact kept getting to him, worming its way past the jolts of pleasure brought on by his lube-slicked palm.

He'd set the camera on his desk and had started the live feed over ten minutes ago. Though he'd bitched out and turned away before he could see the chatroom open to viewers aside from the one who'd invited him. That person was still there, right? Was probably the only one?

How popular was this app?

With another sound of frustration, he dropped his forehead to the mattress, the move lifting his ass higher in the air. He'd spread his thighs and put himself on full display for the viewer, jerking himself off with his dick aimed low so they could see as much of him as possible even from this angle.

He'd done as much research into the app as he could, but there wasn't much information out there that was accessable to the open public. The app had been created for the rich and elite students of Foxglove Grove University, a prestigious school Nix had only ever been to once when he'd been touring to try and find the right fit for him.

Foxglove hadn't been it.

Not that it mattered any more, since that's where he'd find himself at the start of the upcoming semester anyway.

From what he'd gathered, Enigma was a fancy hookup app meant to have their members jumping through hoops to prove how deviant and depraved they could be. Only those who attended or had attended the school were allowed to join, and there was a farce of anonymity and discretion.

Farce, because there was no way to keep one's identity a secret if they were going out screwing people they'd met through the app. But whatever. The app also operated on a tiered system. The lower ones meant nothing, but he'd skipped right past those while hacking his way into the program.

After the funeral, Nix had found the email with the QR code in his cousin's multi-slate. He'd also found the app downloaded to her device, though it'd been locked. Since then, he'd managed to hack into the system, but only a few of her chat logs were accessible and nothing else, the rest of it under biometric locking mechanisms he couldn't break through.

Now that she was dead, no one could.

The QR code had still worked, surprisingly enough. Apparently, whoever managed the app didn't bother checking to see if their members were still alive or not. It wasn't as simple as downloading the app to his own device, however. In her letter to him, Branwen had mentioned something about crowns. He'd figured out that part of her message easily enough.

Everyone had a profile photo, something that was meant to be obscure—not an actual picture of your face or anything that could reveal your identity. Though the first two levels operated the same as any other hookup app, anonymity was still the number one rule.

It made Nix wonder how many random people his cousin had slept with, or exchanged sexual favors with like he was doing right now, without ever having seen their face before.

This was already a lot for him; he didn't think he could fuck someone without knowing what they looked like beforehand. Clearly, Branwen hadn't felt the same way, since over the tiny profile photo of an ivory mask, there was a small golden crown.

She'd wanted it and she'd gotten it.

So why had she killed herself in the end anyway?

A boy. A boy who'd betrayed her. A boy who had something to do with this secret world and these dirty dealings.

Nix had downloaded the app and created an account. He'd been able to hack the system and manipulate it into believing he'd already successfully beaten the first two tiers and was currently a part of the third one, which was known as Bishop. But that's where things had gotten…complicated.

Moving up the first two tiers was simple. To go from Pawn to Knight, a person simply needed to invite twenty people using their own personal QR code. Nix had tricked it into believing he'd done this. Then from Knight to Bishop, ten official Favors needed to be completed.

Favors were given by the top three highest tiers, and Knights were allowed into a specific forum where they could click on suggested favors from higher members and decide whether or not to do them. Nix had simply left a program running that sorted through all of the favors and selected the ones that were the easiest. A photograph of his ass in a public setting. A picture of his dick fully erect. Ridiculous, but ultimately harmless.

He'd checked off ten Favors within three days that way, and had risen the ranks to Bishop. But that was where things got tricky.

There was no forum for Bishops to shop around in. Rooks and Kings, the two tiers above, did the shopping. They had open access to all of the Bishops' profiles, including the material used for their first ten favors which were stored on their accounts.

It had taken almost four days for someone to finally contact Nix with an offer, and by that point, he probably would have been willing to do anything. When he'd first read the message, he'd even been relieved that it was nothing too extreme.

Now that he was in the midst of it however…

This was only one of five. He'd need to complete five in order to reach the second highest tier, and even then he'd still be one below the one he needed to be in.

The one Branwen had fought so hard to enter.

King.

People in the King tier didn't interact with those beneath the Rooks or Bishops. For the latter, it was only to offer Favors. Nix was hopeful there'd be more between them and the Rooks. He needed to get closer so he could actually learn who these people were. Learn what they did and what the real purpose of this damn app was.

He couldn't do that if he didn't gather his courage and stop fucking around.

It was an orgasm, damn it.

It wasn't like he'd been asked to saw his own arm off or anything.

Nix rocked his hips back and forth and tried to focus on the slick sounds of his own precome mixing with the lube. He just needed to come. He just needed—

The multi-slate and his computer dinged at the same time, alerting him that a comment had been left in the chat, and he froze. Nix had decided to film with his computer and keep his body-borne device on him so he could shut the camera off as soon as he was finished. But knowing he was already going to be struggling with this, he'd been sure to mute the chat beforehand…

Hadn't he?

There was a second ding and he jerked, realizing with a start how absolutely stupid and pathetic he probably looked to whoever was watching. Lifting his head, he forced himself to peer down at the small rectangular screen attached to the top of his wrist and read the messages.

Maestro: You're empty, Songbird.

Songbird? Nix's brow furrowed. Was it a dig? He'd made his username Nightingale, but it was impossible to tell if this messenger was teasing him or not. At least there was still only the two of them present in the chat. No one else was watching this awkward exchange but him and the user who'd offered the Favor. He read the second comment.

Maestro: Are you skittish, or is this part of the act? This says you're a Bishop. Aren't you trying to become a Rook?

Nix swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and told himself there was no way whoever this was had figured out he'd cheated and skipped the first two tiers. He was fooled, he had to be. There were no hidden meanings in that statement. He thought Nix was in the Bishop tier because that was as high up as he could go on his own.

The chat dinged a third time.

Maestro: I don't like being ignored, Songbird. Want my Favor? You better fill that tight ass in the next sixty seconds or I'll ban your account.

He sucked in a sharp breath. That couldn't happen. If he was banned he'd lose all progress! There was no telling if he'd even be able to hack his way back in a second time without getting caught.

Nix couldn't risk that. He needed to make it into the King chatlog.

For Branwen.

No other messages came, but Nix knew the messenger hadn't abandoned him just yet. There was no explaining how, but he could practically feel the fiery lick of the gaze of whoever was commenting to him.

A commenter who'd also just offered him a coveted Favor…

How much time had passed since he'd sent that message?

Shit.

Nix dropped back down all the way, pressing his face into the cool star-studded comforter he'd picked out when he'd been fourteen and reached behind him. The moment he found his puckered hole, he pushed a finger through, gritting his teeth against the resistance. It wasn't his first time doing anal play, but in his haste not to lose this chance, he hadn't thought to lube his hand, and, though he was experienced, the last time he'd had sex was at least a year ago.

And it hadn't been any good.

He wiggled that single digit down past the first knuckle, letting out a harried breath as soon as it was inside, and then eased it back out slowly. He was so focused on the task he almost didn't register the sound of another ding, already corkscrewing his finger back in, this time successfully past the second knuckle, when he did.

Nix stilled again, unsure of what to do. His left hand was still working his dick, and the right was now bent behind him. If he wanted to read the message, he'd need to remove his finger, but if he did that, would the messenger get angry?

If that person made good on their threat and booted Nix from the app…

He was going to have to get up and check his computer, it was the only other option.

With a deep inhale to attempt to steady his racing heart, Nix lifted himself onto his knees and turned on the bed, careful to keep his finger lodged inside of himself. He wobbled a bit from the odd angle the second his bare feet touched the cold hardwood floor and leaned toward the computer to read the messenger bar to the right. The move brought his masked face closer to the camera, but he didn't allow himself to dwell on that.

The white half mask only covered his face from the top of his nose to his forehead, a dash of gold glitter embellishing the top.

Branwen's mask, which he'd found in her school backpack.

Maestro: You can do better than that.

Nix blinked at the comment and whoever Maestro was, they saw his reaction and replied again.

Maestro: My instructions were clear. I told you to fill yourself. Is this a joke to you, Songbird? Is a single finger really all you can take? This might not be the right place for you if that's the case.

Nix gulped and straightened. "Can I have a minute to grab something?"

The question was out of his mouth before he could help it, shocking him almost as much as it must have shocked his viewer because it took longer for him to respond to that than it had the other times.

Nix convinced himself he was only playing it safe by asking, by leaning into this mirage. Enigma was a sex app, after all, filled with forums and chatrooms carefully organized by kink. He'd scrolled through a few of them earlier, too much of a chicken to stop on any, but there were loads filled with BDSM and the like.

Maestro: Sixty seconds. Starting now.

He shot into motion, dropping both of his hands so he could reach under the desk and pull out one of his smaller suitcases his old roommate had shipped back from the university last week. When he'd initially left a month ago, it'd been with the intention of returning, but now…Now he had a new plan. A new goal.

Making it into the King chat was paramount to achieving it.

Nix almost sighed in relief when he finally found the small navy blue bag at the bottom of his suitcase, whipping it out and unzipping it in full view of the camera, completely forgetting it was even there in his haste. The pearly white dildo sprung free from the bag and he smiled in victory.

In a flash he was back on the bed, sprawled out on his back this time with his legs spread wide, his erect dick bobbing with his movements. He wasted a few precious seconds applying a hefty sum of lube to the toy before he brought it to his entrance.

Where he paused.

Again.

If a single finger had been too much, there was no way he'd be able to comfortably take the dildo, right? Not without some preparation. It was about an inch wide, so not that bad, but he hadn't used it in almost as long as it'd been since the last time he'd slept with someone…

The messenger app dinged, and somehow, his gut sank even before he turned his wrist and read it.

Maestro: No pain no gain. Prove to me you want it.

If he had the time to think about how ridiculous this all was, he'd probably laugh. He'd come home for a funeral, and yet here he was now, lying on his bed, dick wet and swollen, ass about to be filled with silicone, listening to the instructions of some faceless pervert on the other side of his computer screen.

Nix had never been all that interested in pain, in any capacity, but if that's what it would take to unlock Branwen's secrets…

…Did the band-aid method work on all things?

Time to find out.

With one hard shove, Nix forced the toy past that tight ring of muscle and cried out in agony at the intense sear of pain. He dropped back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling as tears began to fill his eyes, stubbornly refusing to pull that intrusive rod out no matter how badly his body begged him to.

He breathed through it, waiting for his body to adjust.

He should have known his audience was too impatient for that.

When it dinged he almost pretended not to hear, but then lifted his right arm above his face to read it.

Maestro: You're bleeding.

"You like that," the accusation burst out of him before he could help it, the incredulity in his tone impossible to miss. But what kind of sicko got off on seeing a stranger bleed?

It was yet another reminder about the danger he was truly in. On the surface, this might just look like a sex app, but Nix wasn't a moron. No one went through these extreme lengths to cover up nothing .

Branwen wouldn't kill herself over nothing either.

Maestro: Should I come over there and give you a hand, Songbird?

"You don't know where I am," he hated that he sounded afraid and unsure but…This could literally be anyone.

Maestro: I could find you.

"I…" He licked his lips and urged his voice to steady when he said, "Demon Passing. The Night of the Nightshade. How about you find me then?"

It was risky, showing all his cards this early, before he'd even made it into the King chat, but missing this opportunity would be foolish. He was already here, on his back, taking a rubber cock for this Maestro person. Might as well go all in.

There was a moment where everything seemed to still as he waited for a response, but then—

Maestro: Fuck yourself hard and come screaming my name. Then, I might consider hunting you at the party.

The Night of the Nightshade was the most secretive event for Enigma, taking place only once a year. And one of the very few confirmed times every high-standing member met in person. He'd only been made aware of it because Bishops were given an invitation to try and prove their worth by making it into the King tier before then.

Whoever had pushed Branwen to the edge, they would be there.

"Deal." Nix didn't second guess his decision, dropping his arm so he could reach for his dick again.

Even though it still stung, he slid the dildo all the way out to its crown and then drove it back in, pounding his own ass in beat with the pumps of his fist on his glistening cock. He worked himself into a frenzy, grunts turning to sharp moans of pleasure as the pain dissipated and turned into skyrocketing bliss.

Fire licked across his skin and he broke out in a sheen of sweat, his heels bracing on the edge of the bed as he drew closer and closer to release. He kept his gaze downcast the whole time, watching himself in his hand to avoid looking up at the camera.

"I'm going to come! Maestro! I'm going to—" He managed to say it just in time, thick, creamy ropes of come spurting from his slit before he'd even fully finished speaking. He continued to ride the toy through it, ringing himself dry in the process until he was certain there was nothing left for him to give.

In a gasping heap, he fell on his back, his arms dropping at either side of his head. The dildo was still buried deep, but he didn't have the strength to reach down and remove it, focused instead on calming his breathing.

Nix had no clue how long he stayed like that, lying in his own mess, but when he finally peeled himself up, wincing when he sat on the end of the toy, the light indicating the chat was active was off on his computer.

He scrambled to his feet, legs giving out so that he crashed to his knees in front of his desk, the sting barely registering as he panicked and searched the chat.

Maestro was gone.

And he hadn't left any other comments after the last one.

Had…Had that not been good for him? Had Nix done something wrong? Had he blown his chance?

Tears brought on by frustration threatened to form, but before any of them could fall, his private messenger lit up.

Maestro: See you soon, Songbird.

It wasn't over. He was going to offer Nix another Favor. He squeezed his eyes shut, the mixture of anxiety and relief warring within him. He wanted this, needed it, but there was no telling what Maestro would ask of him next or even when that would be.

What if Nix was still a Bishop in three weeks when he entered Foxglove Grove?

Knowing there was nothing more he could do at this stage, he forced himself to shut the computer off and then stood to go clean up.

At least he was one Favor down. Only four more to go.

He was closer.

Become a Rook.

And then hunt a King.