Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,130

her lip, waving a hand before Rio could lunge for me. “That’s the best you have?” she taunted, her split lip still leaking drops of blood down her chin to drip on the floor. “You supposedly took down a Councilman and you can barely bloody my lip. Everyone knew that claim was false. I have no doubt that Councilman Khan was killed, but by you? The way it was described?” she sneered. “We all knew it didn’t really happen like that. You scared some of the staff into spreading a rumor, inflating it with each pass. The exact same way the Council does. You’re just waiting for your chance to lead. To take over.”

“I don’t want to lead anything!” I spat at her, throwing my hands in the air. “You all came to me! You’re the ones who wanted me here, who made me do those stupid trials to join in.”

Risa snorted, spitting blood at my feet. “Megan never agreed with that, she was simply outvoted,” Risa told me stiffly with a jerk of her shoulder. “Just wait until I tell her you blooded me.”

“I’ll blood you again if you say another damn word about my family,” I threatened her, stepping close. Heat built in my palms, my Phoenix screeching her fury at the larger female in front of us. “You think I haven’t heard the rumors you’ve been spreading? The whispers you have all been circulating?” I knew there was color in my cheeks, my eyes flashing with fury as I sent a glare around the room. “My family has sacrificed everything for you lot, and you still treat us like we’re second class to you. You’re no better than the Council.”

“So what?” Risa shrugged, the move lazy, though her eyes were intense. “Your stupid Gargoyle lost his parents. Big deal. They were part of the Council, they got what they deserved. They would have died at our hand as soon as we got close enough to them.” Fire whipped out, flaring before her face before extinguishing in a puff of smoke.

“Be grateful I have control, Risa,” I warned her, my voice shaking with emotion as I looked into Risa’s eyes. “I could have burnt you to cinders in moments.” Risa laughed, the sound foreign in the serious silence that haunted the room. The doors flew open with a bang, and I sensed my mates at my back though I didn’t dare turn to look at them.

“What the hell is going on here?” It was Valleria’s voice that sliced through the silence in a whip of demand. Soft hands stroked my back and my hair as my mates sought to calm the fury they could sense riding me. My eyes never left the laughing female’s.

“Little Miss Nix used her powers in an act of violence toward a Faction Opal member outside of an authorized training match,” Rio explained. His voice sounded oddly smug.

“I pulled my powers before they hit her,” I snarled. “The mark on her is from my fist.”

“Oh, Nix.” Something in Valleria’s voice caught my attention, though I didn’t dare look away.

“They called my mates child abusers. Predators. Simply because they happen to love each other as well as me,” I snapped over my shoulder, and from the snarls at my back, and Risa’s suddenly wide eyes, I was sure my mates were just as pissed as I was. “She said my mate’s parents got what they deserved. She’s lucky all I did was punch her.”

“I claim my rights,” Risa called into the room, her smile looking more like a grimace. “She blooded me. Attacked me. Attempted to use her powers on me despite my inability to protect myself.”

I snorted. “You’re a water nymph, don’t think I don’t remember that,” I challenged. “Even if I had truly attacked you, you could have stopped me.”

“Faction Opal forbids it.” Ciarán’s voice had my head whipping to the side as I caught him materializing. His eyes flashed for a moment, the fury there as raw as what was inside me. “Risa is allowed to claim a challenge in return.”

“Fuck that!” Killian spit out. I didn’t even have to be facing him to know he was glaring at his brother.

“She was provoked!” Ryder added.

“Risa. You are aware of the stakes, correct?” Ciarán asked, ignoring his brother, his eyes trained solely on the nymph in front of us. “If you do this, you act as representative for Megan. If Nix wins this, control of Faction Opal passes to her. Are you so