Page 92 of Of Flame and Fury

“What the fuck does that mean?” Kel snapped. “I competed in your damn race and almost died. Just tell us the truth.”

Cristo’s mouth thinned. He stepped closer, until only the wooden bars separated them.

He smoothed back his hair, though the few loose waves quickly reappeared. “Councillor Trystas has contacted me requesting details about the situation. But I’ve assured him that Cristo Industries is fully equipped to handle any abnormal phoenix behavior.”

“Abnormal?Savita reacted like any collared phoenix would in a race gone wrong. She only fought that other phoenix becauseitattackedus.”

Why did the council care? Sav’s actions had threatened Kel, not CAPR’s spectacle. There had to be another reason for their investigation.

Cristo nodded, unfazed by her outburst. “I know. But the council will need more than words to be reassured. They’ll need records of her temperature fluctuations, interactions with other phoenixes, and film footage from previous CAPR races.”

True fear, like she hadn’t felt since she’d seen Coup vanish in an ambulance, engulfed her. It almost sounded as if the councilwantedto find Savita guilty.

Sav was aggressive on CAPR tracks because that’s what spectators demanded. She didn’t interact well with other phoenixesbecause she’d been raised in isolation, like most tamed birds. And her temperature… it would be highly irregular, temperamental, because she was approaching a rebirth. What could they do?

What could she do?

Cristo stepped around the wooden bars. Kel broke through the static filling her ears long enough to hear him say, “I’ll do whatever I can to avoid this, Kelyn.”

Cristo didn’t wait for a response. He turned to leave and, with one foot through the side door, said, “I’m sorry.”

Cristo disappeared. Helplessness flooded Kel in unrelenting waves. She sucked in long, thin breaths, her throat closing around every gasp. Everything she’d done—working for Cristo, racing through Vohre Forest—was to protect Savita. And still, it wasn’tenough.

A hand touched her arm. “Canen and Trystas are close friends,” Rahn said. “Things will work out.”

The words didn’t reassure Kel the way they were probably meant to.

Rahn led Kel to the nearest chair. They both wedged themselves onto the small cushion.

“Are you really sure Cristo would never hurt Sav? He’ll protect her?” Kel croaked.

Rahn’s eyes lowered. Something clouded her gaze, warring beneath her blank expression. She opened her mouth and closed it, before finally, she said, “Trust me. There’s nothing Canen cares about more than preserving phoenix magic.”

THIRTY-NINE

That night, as Kel counted her breaths and stared up at the hospital’s dark ceiling, she wanted nothing more than to blink and see the dawn. Though her therapists seemed confident in her recovery, Kel wasn’t sure that her doctor would release her in the morning. Progress or not, she’d refused to let anyone take her blood. Her doctor had tried to convince Kel otherwise, but something strange niggled in her veins whenever a nurse loomed with a needle. Her mind filled with the needles that her father had been subjected to, before his spirit flickered out like a candle.

Kel sat up and glanced around the room. The dark-haired girl who’d been lying in a distant bed a week ago was still there, breathing slowly.

The girl appeared asleep, so Kel flicked on the small media screen above her head. Her lips pulled up as the first channel showed a recent interview with Coup. His easy warmth was like a polished dagger, gleaming with confidence, aimed directly at the camera.

She’d once thought his broadcasted charisma was effortless. Now, she saw it for what it really was: a well-rehearsed symphony,each note perfectly tuned. But she couldn’t imagine the exhaustion it took to perfect every performance. To command such a presence.

When she’d had her fill of Coup’s razor-sharp smile and quips about their team, aboutKel, she flicked the screen off. With a weary huff, she swung her feet off the bed. The cold tiles sent shivers up her spine.

Between the media coverage, Cristo’s hazy promises and her own knotted feelings around the last time she’d seen Sav, Kel knew she had to find her phoenix.

Finally, there was no one here to stop her.

Her hospital pajamas rustled as she crept down the hall. She had no clue how to find Savita’s aviary from the hospital wing, but she had to try. Tonight—before she was officially freed—might be her only chance to catch Cristo off guard.

Kel paused as she passed the dark-haired girl’s bed. Around Kel’s age, she was crowded by thrumming machines. Her raven hair fanned her gaunt face like a halo, and her warm, olive skin was pulled taut around her cheekbones. The girl looked strangely familiar—but Kel couldn’t think from where.

And she didn’t have time to linger.

A nurse hunched behind the hospital’s reception desk, but Kel crawled through the shadows without notice. It was hard to tell where the hospital ended and the rest of the facilities began—every room was painted the same pearly shade of white, the night’s shadows turning them gray. She’d never ventured down this cluster of corridors and couldn’t tell if she was moving farther from or closer to Sav’s aviary.

The wound at Kel’s hip ached as she rushed past rooms that looked like research labs. Most windows were tinted, but the few clear panels showed test tubes and microscopes. Down anothercorridor, she paused before a sliver of startling silver light gleaming from beneath a door. Intrigued, she scrunched one eye and tried to peek through the narrow space between the door and its frame. She couldn’t make out much—the hall was cast in darkness—just a huge, long room with silver, jagged walls.

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