Read Burned for Free Online Page A

are no one’s mother figure. I learned to stand up to bitches a long time ago.”
    Neferet frowned and let loose her wrist. “I’ve never liked your coarse language.”
    “I’m not
coarse
; I’m
real
. Two different things. And you think I fucking care what you like or dislike?” Neferet took a breath to respond, but Aphrodite cut her off. “Just what the hell are you doing here?”
    Neferet blinked in surprise. “I am here because there is a wounded fledgling here.”
    “Oh, that’s such shit! You’re only here because somehow it’s gonna get you something you want. That’s how you work, Neferet, whether they know it or not.” Aphrodite jerked her chin at the High Council members.
    “Be careful, Aphrodite. You may need me in the very near future.”
    Aphrodite held Neferet’s gaze and felt a sense of shock as she realized the eyes that met hers had changed. They were no longer brilliant emerald green. They had darkened.
Was that red that glowed from deep in the middle of them?
As quickly as the thought came to Aphrodite, Neferet blinked. Her eyes cleared and were once again the color of expensive gemstones.
    Aphrodite drew a shaky breath, and the small hairs on her arms lifted again, but her voice was flat and sarcastic when she said, “That’s okay. I’ll take my chances without your ‘help.’ ” She air quoted around the last word.
    “Neferet, the Council recognizes you!”
    Neferet turned to face the Council, but before she descended the stairs to them, she paused and made a graceful gesture, which included Aphrodite.
    “I ask that the Council allow the presence of this human. She is Aphrodite, the child who makes claims of being Nyx’s Prophetess.”
    Aphrodite stepped around Neferet and looked squarely from one Council member to another. “I don’t
claim
to be a prophetess. I am Nyx’s Prophetess because the Goddess wants me to be. The truth is, if I had a choice about it, I wouldn’t want the job.” She kept speaking even though several of the Council members had gasped in shock. “Oh, and just FYI: I’m not telling you anything Nyx doesn’t already know.”
    “The Goddess believes in Aphrodite even though she is not quite as sure about herself,” Darius said.
    Aphrodite smiled at him. He was more than her big, hot, mountainlike Warrior. She could count on Darius; he always saw the best in her.
    “Darius, why do you speak for this human?” asked the brunette.
    “Duantia, I speak for this
Prophetess
,” he enunciated her title carefully, “because I have pledged myself to her as her Warrior.”
    “Her Warrior?” Neferet couldn’t keep the shock from her voice. “But that means . . .”
    “That means that I can’t be completely human because it’s impossible for a vampyre Warrior to swear an Oath Bond with a human,” Aphrodite finished for her.
    “You may enter the Chamber, Aphrodite, Prophetess of Nyx. The Council recognizes you,” proclaimed Duantia.
    Aphrodite hurried down the stairway, leaving Neferet to follow behind her. She wanted to go straight to Zoey, but instinct made her stop in front of the brunette named Duantia first. She formally fisted her hand, pressed it over her heart, and bowed respectfully. “Thank you for letting me come in here.”
    “These extraordinary times call for us to accept unusual practices.” This came from a tall, thin vampyre who had eyes the color of night.
    Aphrodite wasn’t sure what to say to the vamp, so she just nodded and moved to Zoey. She slid her hand in Darius’s and squeezed hard, trying to borrow some of her Warrior’s amazing strength. Then she looked down at her friend.
    She hadn’t imagined it. Zoey’s tattoos really were gone!
The only Mark left on her was an ordinary-looking crescent-moon outline in sapphire in the middle of her forehead. And she was so damn pale!
Zoey looks dead.
Aphrodite stopped the thought immediately. Zoey wasn’t dead. She was still breathing. Her heart was still beating. Zoey. Was. Not.