They were able to move her to the medical center once the fire was out. While the fire only burned for a few minutes, it was hours before she woke up from the deep sleep we fell into so our bodies could heal.
I rolled to my knees and stood up, slowly. The ache in my head eased, but the world was still hazy and spinning. There was something I needed to do…
Lucent! He took the blame for killing the harpy princess. But my mom would have known it was me. Damn what a fucking mess.
Pushing away the dizziness and the low-grade headache, I rushed through the dense jungle, heading to my village. I needed answers and Mom was the only one who could give them to me.
After all, I did call her to come to scene when I heard the cry of the child that turned into a trap. Or was she already on the way? Hell, I didn’t remember. It was all a blur.
I slapped large leaves away as I ran and jumped over brush. My village came into view, but I didn’t slow until I was inside my house. Even then I power-walked to Mom’s office.
I opened the office door without knocking and skidded to halt. Two large males stood to one side of the office. Their dark eyes landed on me and their lips curled in wicked smirks. They were phoenixes and huge-ass fuckers, but not from my clan. There weren’t many males born to our kind. Most of them worked as enforcers for the council, like the two standing in Mom’s office watching me like I’d run out the door.
Giving them a sickly-sweet smile, I moved to stand in front of Mom’s desk. Her three mates—Gauge, Flint, and Cross—gave me sympathy looks from behind Mom. They couldn’t help, although I guessed they tried. The three of them had been more like dads to me than my absent sperm donor.
Mom didn’t look up from her tablet as she said, “Took you long enough.”
“Well, it was my first death and rebirth. Things were a little weird. Plus I had a hole in my chest that needed to heal first.” I glanced down at myself and winced. My clothes were burnt and blackened. Even my fingers were dark from the ashes.
When I looked up it was to meet Mom’s stare. There were so many emotions swirling in her blue eyes—anger, concern, sadness. “You had a hole in your chest?”
“Stacia stabbed me with a staff. She missed my heart, though. Then she went after Lucent.” My tone turned dark and growly as I spoke the latter. I wanted to kill the bitch against for going after Lucent with the intent to kill him.
“I see,” Mom said. To anyone else she sounded annoyed or maybe tired. To me, she was pissed. Then her eyes flicked to the enforcers and returned to me. “I can’t let this go unpunished. You and Stacia were warned too many times to come to some kind of consensus. Killing her was going too far.”
I nodded and lowered my gaze. Despite the fact that I was set up, I lost control and exposed myself as well as killed a person. There were so many other ways the situation could have been handled. Walking away was the best thing I should have done. For Lucent and I both. At the time, I only saw vengeance. The bitch pushed me too far with the fake cry of the child, then taunting me with Lucent, knowing good and well how I felt about him. Yeah, she knew. There was a time—years ago—that we were friends. Then the bitch accused me of betraying her. I still don’t know what I did, and she refused to tell me.
My thoughts turned to Lucent and my heart ached. “Luce?”
“You will be joining him.” A chocked sob escaped me right before her words sank in. But it wasn’t her words that made me pause and scan her features. It was her tone.
“Joining him where?” I glanced to each of the dads and frowned. They remained quiet behind Mom. Thanks for the help guys.
“Wicked Reform School.” Mom rose from her seat and rounded the desk to stand in front of me. She pressed her lips into a thin line as she studied me, then started shaking her head. “Ember, this is serious. You killed the harpy princess.”
“She gave me no other choice.” Even when the words left my mouth, I knew it was an excuse.
“We all have choices. You chose wrong, and you let Lucent take the fall.”
I shook my head. “He pushed death fire into me and teleported me away. All before I could stop it.”
“That is why I was able to get Regina to send both of you to the reform school. You have one term to be reformed. Stay out of trouble, do as they tell you, pass your classes, and learn to control that temper of yours.” Mom pulled me into a hug and whispered, “Lucent is there to help you. Please don’t make me select another heir.”
My heart sank to my feet and damn if tears didn’t form, stinging my eyes. This was my last chance to get my shit together. It was time for me to grow up. Besides my powers are still growing, which means my temper would be harder and harder for me to rein in. Killing Stacia was pure instinct. I didn’t think, I just reacted. That alone was something a ruler could never do.
“I won’t let you down. I know this isn’t going to be easy, but I’ll come back.” I had Luce with me, like Mom said.
The dads picked that moment to surround me. Each one kissed my forehead and drew me into hugs while speaking encouragements softly.
I faced the enforcers and straightened my spine. “Do I have to be handcuffed?”
They glanced at each other than to Mom. The one on the left, the blond, said, “As long as you don’t give us shit.”
“Cool.” I gave Mom a kiss on the cheek and moved to the door. “Let’s go.”
The faster I got to Luce, the faster I could punch him for killing me, then hug him for not being permanently killed.
I dozed off at some point during the flight over the ocean to the United States’ coast where they switched to a rented SUV for the rest of the journey.
About a half hour later they pulled up to a large gate. The pulse of magic from the wards surrounding the place tingled my skin. I glanced out the window and saw cyclops patrolling the outer border. “Damn. They have cyclopes as guards?”
The blond enforcer, who I learned was named Frank, chuckled. “Yeah and they are mean fuckers. They’ll eat you if you escape.”
I eyed him for a long moment. When he didn’t give me any indication that he was teasing me, I blew out a breath. “I bet a phoenix can’t be reborn from being eaten.”
Frank rolled his eyes, but his friend, Chad, laughed. “No we wouldn’t. But he’d have heartburn from Hades.”
“Definitely,” I agreed. For enforcers who were taking me to my prison home for the next few months, they were good guys.
Frank pulled into a small parking lot just inside the gates. I waited for them to get out and open the door because I was sure that me just exiting the vehicle would set some alarms off or something.
Chad opened the back door and raised a brow. “You comfortable?”
“Yep.” I flashed him a smile and hopped out.
“I should have known you’d arrive soon.”
A familiar voice drew my attention to the female phoenix standing a few feet away with her arms crossed. “Cordea?”
We went to high school together but were never close friends. In fact, she hated me just because I was heir to Azorea Cay Clan. Well, I didn’t have proof of that. “So what did you do to get in?”
Cordea rolled her eyes. “None ya.” I walked to her and she racked her gaze over me. “I don’t have to ask because Lucent already told me.”