Destined (House of Night #9)(12)

"Merry meet, Zoey Redbird," Duantia said. "I am pleased to speak with you again." I fisted my hand over my heart and bowed respectfully. "Merry meet, Duantia. Thank you for making time for this call."

"Merry meet, Duantia," Neferet said, stepping up beside me and bowing formally. I saw her shoot a quick, questioning look at Dragon before she smiled silkily and continued. "I must apologize. I knew nothing about this call. I was only expecting a simple school Council Meeting." Then she skewered me with her emerald eyes. "Are you responsible for this, Zoey?"

"Yeah, definitely. I would have told you earlier, but you just now got here," I said, smiling and sounding super cheerful. Before Neferet could respond I turned my attention to Duantia. "I wanted to make sure the High Council heard all the details about Nyx's amazing appearance at the school yesterday and," I paused, nodding to Neferet as if I was including her, "I knew Neferet would be eager to share with you as well."

"Actually, we know very little, which is one of the reasons I was looking forward to this call." Duantia looked from me to Neferet. "I tried to contact you during the day, after I instructed Dragon to allow the red fledglings and Zoey's group to begin attending classes today, but I could not reach you, High Priestess."

I could feel Neferet bristle, but she only said, "I was secluded in deep prayer."

"All the more reason for this call," Duantia said.

"What Nyx did was a miracle." I gestured for Stevie Rae to come into camera range. "This is Stevie Rae, the first Red High Priestess." Stevie Rae fisted her hand over her heart and bowed deeply. "I'm real pleased to meet you, ma'am."

"Merry meet, Stevie Rae. I have heard much of you and the red fledglings. And, of course, I have already met the Red Warrior, Stark. Nyx is, indeed, generous with her miracles."

"Um, thank you, but, well, us bein' red and all isn't the miracle." Stevie Rae glanced at me and added, "Well, at least it's not the miracle Zoey's talkin' 'bout." She cleared her throat and then said, "Nyx's miracle has to do with my Consort, Rephaim." Duantia's eyes widened. "Is that not the name of one of the creatures called Raven Mocker?"

"Yes." Dragon's voice was as hard as his face. "It is the name of the creature who killed my Anastasia."

"I do not understand," Duantia said. "How could that abomination be called Consort?" Quickly, before Neferet could chime in something awful I started babbling, "Rephaim used to be a Raven Mocker, and Dragon is right, back then he did kill Anastasia." I glanced up at Dragon, but it was real hard to meet his eyes. "Rephaim asked Nyx's forgiveness for that."

"And for everything bad he'd done when he was Kalona's son," Stevie Rae added.

"Blanket forgiveness is-"

Neferet began, but I cut her off saying, "Blanket forgiveness is a gift that can be given by our Goddess, which is exactly what she did last night," I said. Then I looked at Stevie Rae. "Tell the High Council Leader what you did." Stevie Rae nodded and swallowed hard, then she said, "A few weeks ago I found Rephaim almost dead. He'd been shot from the sky. I didn't turn him in." She looked from the computer screen and Duantia up to Dragon and said pleadingly, "I didn't mean to hurt anyone or do anythin'

wrong."

"That abomination killed my mate," Dragon said. "The same night he was shot from the sky and should have died."

"Professor Lankford, please allow the Red High Priestess to continue her confession," Duantia said.

I saw Dragon's jaw clench and his lip lift slightly in a sneer, but Stevie Rae's words drew my attention back to her.

"Dragon's right. Rephaim would have died that night if I hadn't saved him. I didn't tell anyone about him. Well, except my momma, and that was later. Anyway, I took care of him instead. I saved his life. And then he saved my life in return-twice. Once from the white bull of Darkness."

"He faced Darkness for you?" Duantia sounded shocked.

"Yes."

"Actually, he turned away from Darkness for her." I took up the story. "And last night he asked forgiveness from Nyx and pledged himself to her path."

"Then the Goddess made him a boy!" Stevie Rae said with such enthusiasm that even Duantia's lips twitched up in a smile.

"Only from sunset to sunrise," Neferet added, in a throw-cold-water-on-the-moment voice. "During the day he is condemned to be a raven-a beast-with no memory of his humanity."

"That was his consequence for the bad stuff in his past," Stevie Rae explained.

"And now, during the time he's a boy, Rephaim wants to come to school like any other fledgling," I said.

"Remarkable," Duantia said.

"The creature does not belong at this school," Dragon said.

"The creature isn't at this school," I said. "The boy is. The same boy Nyx forgave. The same boy Stevie Rae has chosen as her Consort. The same boy who tried to swear himself into your service."

"Dragon, you rejected him?" Duantia asked.

"I did," Dragon said tightly.

"And that is why I expelled them all," Neferet said in a calm, reasonable, adult voice. "My Sword Master cannot tolerate his presence, and rightly so. When Zoey's group decided to turn their all egiance from us to Stevie Rae and the Raven Mocker I saw no choice except that they all had to go."