Awakened (House of Night #8)(75)

Dragon's eyes were cruel, his voice cold, as he answered the young High Priestess. "You say you know what it's like to lose a love? How long did you love that human boy? Less than a decade! Anastasia was my mate for more than a century."

Rephaim saw Zoey flinch, as if his words had physically hurt her, and Stark moved closer to her side, his gaze narrowed on the Sword Master.

"And that is why a child cannot lead a House of Night. Nor can she be a true High Priestess, no matter how indulgent our Goddess is," Neferet said, moving silkily to Dragon's side and touching his arm deferentially.

"Hang on there a sec, Hateful. I don't remember Nyx actually saying she'd forgiven you. She talked about ifs and gifts, but correct me if I'm wrong, no hey there, Neferet, you're forgivens," Aphrodite said.

"You do not belong at this school!" Neferet yelled at her. "You are not a fledgling anymore!"

"No, she's a Prophetess, remember?" Zoey said, sounding calm and wise. "Even the High Council has said so."

Instead of answering Zoey, Neferet addressed the crowd of watching fledglings and vampyres. "Do you see how they twist the words of the Goddess, even just moments after she has appeared to us?"

Rephaim knew she was evil--knew she was no longer in the service of Nyx, but even he had to acknowledge how fierce and beautiful she looked. He also had to acknowledge the threads of Darkness that had reappeared and begun to slither to her again, filling her, feeding her need for power.

"No one's twisting anything," Zoey said. "Nyx forgave Rephaim and changed him into a kid. She also reminded Dragon he had a choice to make about his future. And she let you know forgiveness is a gift from her that has to be earned. That's all I'm saying. That's all any of us is saying."

"Dragon Lankford, as Sword Master and Leader of this House of Night's Sons of Erebus, do you accept this--" Neferet paused, glancing at Rephaim with loathing. "--this aberration as one of your own?"

"No," Dragon said. "No, I cannot accept him."

"Then I cannot accept him, either. Rephaim, you will not be allowed to remain at this House of Night. Begone, foul creature, and atone for your past elsewhere."

Rephaim didn't move. He waited for Neferet to look at him. And then quietly, distinctly, he said, "I see you for what you are."

"Begone!" she shrieked.

He stood and started to back away from the Sword Master and his group of Warriors, but Stevie Rae took his hand and stopped his retreat.

"Where you go, I go," she said.

He shook his head. "I don't want you to be kicked out of your home because of me."

Looking a little shy, Stevie Rae touched his face. "Don't you know that home is wherever you are?"

He covered her hand with his. Not trusting his voice, he nodded and smiled at her. Smiling--it was incredible how good it felt!

Stevie Rae pulled her hand gently from his. "I'm goin' with him," she spoke to the crowd. "I'm gonna start another House of Night in the tunnels under the depot. It's not as nice there as it is here, but it's a whole heck of a lot friendlier."

"You cannot begin a House of Night without approval of the High Council," Neferet snapped. The watching crowd's whispers of shock reminded Rephaim of summer wind sloughing through the grasses of the ancient prairie--the sound was endless and pointless, unless you were taking wing.

Zoey Redbird's voice broke through the throng. "If you have a vampyre queen, and you agree to stay out of vampyre politics, the High Council will pretty much leave you alone." She smiled at Stevie Rae.

"Coincidentally enough, I have just been kinda sorta made a queen. How 'bout I come with you and Rephaim? I'll take friendly over fancy any day."

"I'll come, too," Damien said. He looked one last time on the smoldering pyre. "I choose to make a fresh start."

"We're coming," Shaunee said.

"Ditto, Twin," Erin echoed. "Our room was too small here, anyway."

"But we'll come back for our stuff," Shaunee said.

"Oh, hells yes," Erin agreed.

"Shit," Aphrodite said. "I knew it when this night blew up. I just knew it. It sucks like Tulsa not having a Nordstrom, but I'm damn sure not staying here, either."

While Aphrodite leaned against her Warrior and sighed dramatically, each of the red fledglings stepped forward. Leaving the crowd, they made their way to stand beside Rephaim and Stevie Rae, Zoey and Stark, and the rest of their circle--the rest of their friends.

"Does this mean I can't be Poet Laureate of all the vampyres?" Kramisha asked as she joined them.

"No one but Nyx can take that away from you," Zoey said.

"Good. She was just here and she didn't fire me. So I guess I'm okay," Kramisha said.

"You're nothing if you leave! None of you are!" Neferet cried. "Well, Neferet, it's like this," Zoey said.

"Sometimes nothing and your friends equals a whole lot of something."

"That doesn't even make sense," Neferet said.

"To you it wouldn't," Rephaim said, putting his arm around Stevie Rae's shoulders.

"Let's go home," Stevie Rae said, sliding her arm around Rephaim's totally, completely human waist.