Nat threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘You moron, that’s just an expression!’
‘Ms. Bruce, please control yourself.’
‘Want me to find a muzzle?’ Tess asked Flávia, who attempted a placating smile.
Tru laughed aloud but quickly swallowed her amusement when both Nat and Hummer shot her angry looks. She tugged on the lapels of her blazer and smirked to herself.
Asta fixed a hateful stare on Pikki. Of course it would be her. She had taken Pillar from Asta, and now she was trying to take Silverscale.
It had taken Asta years to understand how Pikki had used the accident to her advantage. It wasn’t until she saw the way Hummer and Tru would bait Nat and her cousins into defiance, just so they could punish them, that it all clicked into place. That was what Pikki had done to her. She had wanted Asta to punch her.
Maybe she really had been angry with Asta that day. Probably she had been. Felix was her friend. But she had not let her anger go to waste. She had turned it on Asta like a weapon. It was the worst moment of Asta’s life, and Pikki had been ready for it.
It’s not like it had even been a fair fight. Asta had gotten in two good punches– enough to split Pikki’s brow, draw blood, and paint Asta as the aggressor. The contact of her knuckles with Pikki’s face had sent a jolt of relief through her, and so she had gone for her again, but that second blow was the last punch she landed. Pikki had kicked Asta’s ass.
Asta’s injuries from the prelims throbbed in sympathy with the memory. The painkillers were wearing off.
There would be no fight today. Asta wasn’t the same hothead she had been then. She had learned how to control her anger. These days, it burned like a fire in the belly of one of those old steam locomotives. She would not let Pikki get inside her head again and hijack it. She would ignore her. Felix, too. And Nat, for that matter.
The only thing that mattered was the race.
Too little, too late, Asta, she told herself bitterly. You can’t win if you can’t ride.
Pikki didn’t need her to throw a punch this time. The moment she’d followed Nat out of the track that night, Asta had already lost everything.
‘And you saw Ms. Bruce and Ms. Ekenberg racing in the streets of Hallium?’ Flávia asked Pikki, her eyes on her notes.
Pikki hesitated. ‘Me personally?’
Asta’s sickened hope spasmed back to life.
Flávia looked up at Pikki, her face painted with irritation. ‘Yes, Ms. Lowell. You personally.’
‘No. But I spoke with a credible witness who reported seeing two dragons racing that night in the streets– one was red, they said, and one had a copper-colored head– both with female riders. I think it’s obvious that this was them.’
‘And who might this witness be?’ Flávia pressed.
Pikki fidgeted with the fabric of her warm-ups. ‘One of our fans. They asked to remain anonymous.’
Nat let out a disbelieving laugh. ‘You have got to be kidding me! She’s lying!’
A couple of the officials at the table frowned and made notes to themselves.
Flávia did not rebuke Nat for the interruption this time. ‘You led me to believe, Ms. Lowell, thatyouhad witnessed the infraction.’
Pikki looked flustered. ‘But who else could it be? A red dragon. A copper-headed one. It’s them.’
Nat looked at her aunt and uncle. ‘Vulture has more of a bronze coloring, wouldn’t you say?’
Hummer nodded sagely. His beady eyes, peeking out from under his bucket hat, were locked on Pikki, and they were smoldering.
‘Copper?’ Tru scoffed. ‘Not even close.’
‘Flávia, my sweet,’ Hummer said in a gruff voice, ‘you are getting jerked around here. Now, I know the Federation has been raring to take the Bruces down a peg or two. But I sure hope you’re not putting all your eggs in the basket of this dingbat.’ He jabbed a thumb at Pikki. ‘Until you got some realevidenceagainst Natalia, you’d be wise not to do anything.’ His eyes slid to Tru, and she snickered.
There would be no evidence. The Bruces were bold but never careless.
‘Natty didn’t do nothing,’ Tru said, chin in the air.
