Chapter 39
It did not matter that Kellan appeared to want her to join him on stage; her desire to wipe that smug smile off his face overruled her body.
Without hesitation or forethought, Nix maintained eye contact with Kellan as she strode up the stairs and joined him on stage.
She held a hand behind her, gesturing for her mates not to join her. They followed instructions. Well, except for Bael. He walked right behind her like he was auditioning for the role of her shadow.
Kellan smiled warmly as she walked up the steps. “It has been a while since I have seen you.” He turned to the crowd. “Apologies for this brief family moment.”
Nix walked toward him as he held his arms up for a hug from her. One step. Two steps.
She walked past him.
She walked right over to the cart that held Sarasa’s deceased body. From up close, it was clear that no dragon had burned Sarasa. Otherwise, she would be dust.
This was all just a stunt. A “reason” to expel all dragons.
Whilst staring at Sarasa, Nix snapped, “How dare you use the death of a young woman to shove your propaganda down our throats?”
The auditorium of students collectively gasped at her words.
“You are using her corpse as a fucking prop,” Nix yelled through her teeth. Her voice sounded different. Gravelly and deep and…old. Ancient. Powerful.
“You want us to believe a dragon killed her?” she asked. “That this was because she was stepping out of her ‘lane?’ I am the one who stepped out of the lane. I am the one causing the new tensions at the academy. So, why hasn’t any alpha shifter come after me?”
“Nix…” Kellan said coldly. “From what I hear, you have alpha mates who protect you. She did not.”
“Because I have a man, I am safe?” Nix spat out the words in disgust and disbelief.
“Yes.”
“Do you not fucking get it?” Nix’s skin tingled with pinpricks of heat.
As Nix stared at Sarasa’s lifeless, pale blue eyes, more anger swirled and hummed inside her.
“When you tell prey shifters to marry alphas for their protection, you are just telling the other alphas to target the unmarried females.”
“Nix.”
Nix’s fingers clenched the side of the cart, warping it from her newfound strength. Little flames emerged between her knuckles and burned brightly. “You are not eliminating the problem; you are selecting a group to experience the brunt of it.”
The flames grew over her hands as she gripped the side of the metal cart. She inhaled, trying to calm herself, but the air tasted like smoke. Was she supposed to hide her flames from them all?
Was she ready to tell everyone what she was—knowing Kellan led the charge for the mass extinction of phoenix shifters?
“Because you don’t care about anyone but yourself. Your stories,” she added darkly. “Sarasa was not burned by a dragon, or she would be ashes right now. You are framing a species on purpose. Why?”
“Enough,” Kellan announced loudly. His voice cut through the large room via the speakers. Kellan jerked his head at the basilisk shifter before he looked back to Nix. “You, young lady, have said enough. Defending dragons after they murdered one of your own—”
Nix ignored the clear shut-your-mouth energy pouring from Kellan’s stiff stance.
She turned to address the auditorium, “Do you not see what he is doing? Or do you just not care because he has not come for you and your family yet? Dragon shifters are not evil. Phoenix shifters were not evil. He is trying to make you feel indifferent to the disappearances of and eventual extinction of dragons.”
She continued, “And you are sitting back and letting it happen because you’re not dragons. Because you’ve been told dragons are ‘bad.’ What happens when they label your species as ‘bad’ someday? When the dragons and phoenixes are no longer potential soldiers in your army?”
Nix’s breath shot out on a sharp exhale as her flames danced up from her hands, up her arms, and onto her shoulders. “He is openly vilifying and exterminating races of powerful shifters, and you are letting it happen.”
“This outburst is because you heard us saying all dragon shifters will be expelled.” Kellan explained to the audience, “I take responsibility for sheltering this dragon shifter.” He gestured to Nix.
He does not want them to know what I really am. The only reason for that was if Kellan still thought he could capture her and use her as he had in her past life.
He really thought he had the power to overcome her mates and take her again? To poison her so she was powerless again?
Kellan touched his chest and told the audience of students, “My heart was too soft when I found her as a child. I thought I could raise her to suppress her savage dragon instincts. But look at how she is threatening a fiery violence unless you listen to her and think the way she thinks—”
“Fuck you,” Nix shouted at him.
Her flames now covered her uniform, spreading over her and incinerating her clothing. She really needed to look into a fireproof wardrobe. Even as her uniform turned to ashes and left her standing nude in front of the entire academy, Nix’s rage did not diminish.
Her flames burned brighter. Hotter.
Scorching.
In the past, Nix did not feel her flames as anything more than little pinpricks of sensation. Now…she felt them sting. The feeling only fueled her anger further.
“You have no remorse for those who have died due to your hateful speech?” Nix spoke directly to her adoptive father.
“Hateful?” Kellan’s mouth dropped open. He was such a good actor. “I am trying to protect—”
“Sarasa was innocent. And you killed her to make a point,” Nix boldly accused.
A gasping sound came from the crowd.
“I would never,” Kellan said so convincingly. His expression twisted with hurt and shock at her accusation. “Is this really what you think of me? Or is this what your new ‘mates’ have made you think? I raised you.”
“You poisoned me.” Nix bared her teeth, seething. “With Evernell. Since I was ten fucking years old.”
Little creaks echoed around, from the foldable auditorium chairs, as the students stiffened. The mention of Evernell was more horrible than any curse word. If given the right dose, any shifter—no matter how powerful—could die from it.
Shifters desired only respectable deaths, from battles or something equally as passionate. Poison was what measly humans used—an embarrassing death for a paranormal creature.
Kellan’s lips twitched on his frown as he murmured, “Now, how would you know that?”
Did the mention of Evernell reveal that she had time-traveled? How else would she have the knowledge?
Nix ignored his inquiry and shot back her own. “Why use something like that on me? Do you have any idea what it has done to me over the years?”
Kellan’s hands rose to stop her. “This seems like a private, family conversation.”
“Are you scared to admit you used it on me in front of everyone? Breaking a council rule to weaken a teenage girl.”
Kellan pressed his lips together in a thin line, his eyes analyzing everything in the moment and assessing. Was he running through scenarios of denying it? “I did break the rule,” Kellan said.
More gasps.
But Nix remained expressionless as she waited for more. Sometimes there is strength in silence. Because a man with an ego will always fill silence.
Kellan added, having the audacity to shrug, “It watered down her strength, controlled her dragon abilities—”
“And watered down my personality. My energy,” she told him. “I spent years clumsily stumbling in hallways, feeling dizzy from prolonged standing, all because of what you—”
“Nix, do not forget what dragons are capable of,” Kellan snapped. “They killed your parents. They kill prey shifters without a second thought. They killed your classmate. We had no idea when you might start displaying the impulsive, dangerous traits. You could have hurt someone.”
“So, you poisoned me?” Ten years. “You didn’t monitor my behavior or talk to me about the risks; you just took my choice away?”
Kellan displayed a comfortable smile to the audience. “I made a decision that was best for everyone. She grew up without the ability to hurt others, and she didn’t. I have no regrets about my decision.”
“Because you don’t have to live with the repercussions,” she shot back.
Because of that elixir, she had been weak in her past life. Just before graduation, she had been captured. If she had known she was a phoenix, if she had been strong like she was now, could she have ever been taken and tortured?
Four years of torture.
Because of what he did to me.
Weakened me. Kept me docile.
“I’ve been told that poison might permanently prevent my ability to shift. Did you know that would happen?”
Kellan sighed. “A dragon shifter who cannot shift into a dragon sounds like a better member of our society than—”
“It’s my body.” Her flames heightened, some leaping from her skin and singeing the cart. “You permanently altered me without my permission,” she snarled at him.
Mr. Oadess looked at the fire encasing her body but showed no fear. “Try to hurt me, and you will be proving me right,” he said calmly. As if her flames bored him.
Nix’s eyes flashed a burnt red color, and Bael released a soft, “Oh shit,” from behind her.
Nix’s eyebrows scrunched over her forehead as she asked challengingly, “You think you have power?”
The ground began to rumble.